
Class _. 
Book_ 




CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS: 
THE HISTORY 

OF THE 






AMERICAN COLONIZATION SOCIETY. 



By the Aulkor of \Jonversatiims on Oie Sandicich Islands Mis- 
sion, Jifv. 4^. 



Afric't regenerated »on» 

Shall Bhout to Asia's rapturouj long 
Earope resound her Saviour'* fi 

And Weatem cliiuea the uote 




REVISED BY THE PUBLISHING COMMITTEE. 



BOSTON: 

MASSACHUSETTS SABBATH SCHOOL UNION. 
Depository, No. 47, Cornhill. 

1832. 



Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1832, 

By Christopher C. Dean, 
in the Clerk's OflScc of the District Court of Massachusetts. 



//? 



fL- 



V 






CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 



CHAPTER I. 

My ear is pain'd, 
My soul is sick of every day's report 
Of wrong and outrage, with which earth is fill'd. 

"The fourth of July is approaching," said 
Mr. Granville ; " how do you wish to celebrate 
Independence, my son?" 

Charles. There is to be drumming, fid- 
dling, firing of cannon, and drinking toasts, at 

L , and I should like to have such great 

doings here, father. 

Mr. Granville. Well, Janette, if it were 
'left to }our choice, how should we observe 
^he day? 

"O Pa'," said Janette, "I would have just 
feuch a celebration as they had in Boston last 
^summer ; you know, aunt Caroline wrote us 
ill about it. 1 can repeat the Ode that was 



6 GLADjS of the AFRICANS. 

sung by the Sabbath scholars, at Park street 

church ; I have sung it with cousin Arthurj 

many a tinie. It begins — 

"This is the youtliful choir that comes, 
- All dressed so neat and gay; 
As bright as birds that soar and sing, 
And warble all the day." 

Mr. G. Go on, Janette, I should like to 
hear the remainder. 
Janette. (Recites.) 

" This is the youthful choir that loves 
The teacher to obey; 
That meets to sing, and pray, and learn. 
On every Sabbath day. 

This is the youthful choir that goes 

Through wind and storm away, 
From peaceful home to Sabbath school, 

To learn salvation's way. 

This is the youthful choir that sings. 

When all the town is gay; 
That praises God with gratitude 

On Independent day." 

Mr. G. 1 admire the lines you have re- 
peated, but think there ought to have been a 
sermon, or an address, as well as singing. 

Janette. Why Pa' ; have you forgotter^ 
what aunt Caroline said about Dr. Wisner's 
address on that occasion ? 

Mr. G. 1 have, my daughter; but I^ami 
happy to find your memory so good. WhaJ 
did she say about it ? 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 7 

Janette. Thai it was the best address to 
little children she ever heard or rend ; that 
she was surprised to leai'n that God had ex- 
pressed so much love and interest for little 
children, from one end of the Bible to the 
other. 

Mr. G. I highly approve of Sunday school 
celebrations on the fourth of July, and will use 
my influence to have one this year; bnt I can- 
not give up my plan of having an address and 
collection in favor of the American Coloniza- 
tion Society. 1 will try to get the Sabbath 
school and all its friends together in the 
morning, and have the other meeting in the 
afternoon. 

Janette. That was exactly the way they 
did in Boston last summer. Aunt Caroline 
wrote about that meeting too ; I am very glad 
she is coming to see us so soon ; I\la' says 
she expects her every day. 

Charles. Pa', what is the Colonization 
Society doing? I never heard anything about 
it, till I read what aunt Caroline wrote. 

Mr. G. It has dons, and is stiil doing 
great things, and you ought to become ac- 
quainted with its history; but it will take me 
a long time to tell you all I know concerning 
it ; however, after school you may come down 



8 CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 

to the office, and if I am disengaged, I will 
besin this afternoon. 

Janette. Pa', may Clara and I come too: 
" You may all come," said Mr. Granville, 
as he took his hat and walked out of the 
house. 

The children went to school, but they al- 
most counted the hours and minutes before 
they should be dismissed, and be at liberty to 
visit their father at his office, a privilege they 
were seldom allowed to enjoy. 

At length the haj3py moment arrived, and 
they were delighted to find him alone, sitting 
by his large table wiih a new map of Africa 
unrolled and spread upon the table, and a chair 
set for each of the little guests. After they 
were seated, Mr. Granville said, " I suppose 
the first question you wish to ask is, ' What is 
the design of the Colonization Society .^' " 
Charles and Janette together. Yes, Pa'. 
Mr, G. Their ohject in forming a society, 
was to provide a good home in Africa, for all 
the free black people in America, who wish 
to go hack to the land of theii- fatliers. 

Charles, Who began the colonizing busi- 
ness ? and when was it commenced f 

Mr. G. It would be difficult to answer 
your questions in a few words, for the coloniz- 



CLALVIS OF THE AFRICAIN^S. 9 

sng system was agitated by many, nearly or 
quite fifty years ago ; and different persons pro- 
posed a variety of places whicli they thought 
suitable for a colony. South America, and^ 
some part of the western states or territories 
were mentioned, but after much inquiry and 
repeated discussions, the western coast of 
Africa was considered tlie most eligible. 

Janette. Where was the society formed ^ 

Mr. G. At tiie city of Washington. A 
few patriotic gentlemen met and framed a 
constitution, which was adopted by the society 
the last week in December, 1816, and on 
January 1, 1817, auotlier meeting was calfed, 
at which the Hon. Henry Clay was chosen 
chairman, and Mr. Dougherty, secretary. Jf 
I should repeat over tlie names of the first 
officers that were elected by the society, I 
suppose not one of you would remember 
them till you reached the house. 

Charles. I think I should. Pa'; and so 
should I — and I too, said Janette and Clara. 

Mr. G. The Hon. Bushrod Washington 
was elected president, the Hon. Mr. Crawford 
of Georgia, Hon. ]\Ir. Clay of Kentucky, 
' Hon. Mr. Phillips of Massachusetts, Hon. J. 
E. Ho.vard, S. Smith, J. C. Herbert of 
Maryland, Col. Rutgers of Nev^^ York, J. 
Tavlor, Esq. of Virginia, Gen. Jackson, at 
1* 



10 CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 

this lime President of ibe United States, then 
of Tennessee, R. Ralston and R. Rush, 
Esquires, of Pennsylvania, Gen. Mason of 
the District of Goluinbia, and the Rev. Rob- 
ert Finley of New Jersey, were chosen vice 
presidents. Now, children, 1 have mentioned 
the names of all these officers, that you may 
see how important the object of the society 
was, in the estimation of many of the first 
men in the nation, nine of whom lived in 
slave holding; States. Indeed, it may be said 
to have orii!,inated in the south, and the le- 
gislature of Virginia j)assed several resolutiosis 
in favor of colonizing, a great many years ago. 
President Jefferson and President Monroe 
were always friendly to the scheme, and wrote 
and spoke of it in the highest terms of appro- 
bation, on a variety of occasions. I have not 
time to tell you all the' changes this society 
exj)erienced, during the few earliest years of 
its existence, but 1 will just say that it was 
praised by very few, censured by many, and 
tliought to be a visionary plan that could never 
be carried into execution by most. The 
nortliern people suspected that it was con- 
trived by the slave owners al the south, to 
rivet more securely the chains of slavery, and 
{he promoters- of the society were charged 
with being actuated by base and selfish mo- 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICAKS. H 

lives, in wishing to remove all tlie fiee people 
of color, tiiat llie slaves might have no exam- 
ple of liberty among people of iheir own 
complexion. 

Charles, Did the northern people have 
sufficient evidence that their suspicions were 
well founded ? 

Mr. G. No, I do not think they had ; 
jealousy is not npt to be reasonable. It was 
not long after the prejudices at tlie north began 
to yield, and the public interest to awake in i^s 
favor, before it was attacked at the south with 
much virulence, and charged with having in- 
fringed upon the rights of slave holders, and 
sowed the seeds of trouble and anxiety through- 
out the slave States. 

Janette. Wliat. could the society do with 
the north and south against them ? 

J\lr. G. The men who composed it, were 
eminent for their talents and the high offices 
tkey sustained, and were too deeply concern- 
ed for the welfare of their country, to be much 
affected by the doubts of the faint hearted, or 
the taunting -sneers of the ignorant. They 
felt that they were laboring for future genera- 
tions, that the cause was approved of heaven 
and would prosper; therefore they persevered 
in their efforts, to enlighten the public senti- 
ment and raise funds. They determined to 



12 CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 

solicit the aid of the general and state gov- 
ernments, wherever the way was prepared. 
During the summer of J 817, they made pre- 
parations for sending two agents to Africa by 
the way of England, for the purpose of gain- 
ing all the information that could be furnished 
in that country. 

The Rev. Samuel John Mills and the Rev. 
Ebenezer Burgess were appointed to this ser- 
vice, and instiucted to ex|)lore the western 
coast of Africa, 'and if practicable, to purchase 
of the native tribes or some of the European 
governments, a tract of land suitable for the 
settlement of a colony. These gentlemen 
had long been deeply interested in behalf of 
the people of color, and chcerfidly engaged in 
the hazardous enterprise. They embarked at 
Philadelphia, in the ship Electra, on the 16th 
of November, 1817. Capt. Williams, the 
master of the ship, was a very worthy man, 
and spared no pains to make the passengers 
(six in number) comfortable and happy. The 
crew were unusually moral and temperate for 
those days, and commonly attended evening 
prayers. 

The time passed pleasantly away, till they 
were overtaken by a severe storm and gale of 
wind on the 7th of December. It commenc- 
ed on Sabbath evening, and continued with 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. I3 

increasing violence till the next afternoon, 
when the captain despaired oF saving the ship. 
After cuilino; away her masts and cleaiiiig the 
deck, he told the passengers and crew that lie 
had done all he could do for them ; however, 
he remained upon deck with great firmness 
and composure till after three o'clock, although 
daslied by ahnost every wave. Some of the 
gentlemen entreated him to come down into 
the cabin and put on dry clothing ; after a 
while he consented, but he had scarcely got 
half way down, before he was followed by the 
mate, who whispered in his ear, and the cap- 
tain immediately turned and went back to the 
deck, followed by his two little boys, one 
twelve, the other fourteen. The ship was fast 
drifting towards the breakers which were seen 
directly astern. The sea dashed with dread- 
ful fin-y against a ledge of rocks towards which 
the shij) seemed rapidly hastening. " We are 
gone for this woild," said the caj)tain, in utter 
despair, as the surf rose high above the ledge. 
He ordered his sons into the boat with one of 
his most active sailors, and stepping in after 
them, cut the cordage and let her fall oiF. 
Slie was overset in the fall, and the smallest 
boy washed away, while the rest clung to the 
keel till she righted, and then they succeeded 



14 CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 

in getting in, although she was half full of 
water. They rose on the summit of a few 
receding waves, and then vanished forever ! 

" O dear, Pa', how very distressing," ex- 
claimed the children ; " was the ship swallow- 
ed up too?" 

Mr. G. No, my children ; you shall hear 
how wonderfully it was preserved. A line of 
rocks were seen just before them, which ex- 
tended both ways as far as they could see, and 
destruction seemed inevitable. Mr. Burgess 
had not been on deck for a long time, but in 
this moment of consternation, when death 
stared them in the face, and every one ex- 
pected to be in eternity within a few minutes, 
he went up, and all the crew crowded around 
him, begging to be commended to the mercy 
of God. He tried to compose them, and 
lifted up his heart and voice in prayer; at 
the same moment, Mr. Mills with his fellow 
passengers below, were prostrate in fervent 
prayer. When the ship was within a few 
rods of the rocks, a strong current carried it 
to the right hand of the reef, where the water 
was much deeper. The mate felt one ray of 
hope, ordered the rudder to be moved, and 
soon had the joy of perceiving the ship move 
along in a line almost exactly parallel to the 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 15 

reef, lo the very extreiiiity, and ihen crossed 
over just grazing it. As she passed, every 
one exclaimed, " It is the work of God ! " 

Charles. No wonder they did, Pa'; I 
never heard of such an escaj)e. 

Mr. G. The night following was dark and 
gloomy, yet joyful. The storm had consider- 
ably abated, and when they examined the ship 
on Tuesday morning, they felt thankful to find 
the hull sound, though masts, spars and sails 
were all gone. On the 10th, they were dis- 
covered from St. ^lalo i[i France ; boats and 
a pilot went out to them, and before dark they 
were all safe on shore, without the loss of a 
single article of their property. After being 
detained nearly a week at St. Malo, Mr. Mills 
and Mr. Burgess proceeded to Havre-de- 
Grace, from whence they took passage in a 
packet to England, and in two days arrived 
at London, where they were received with 
great cordiality, by all the generous advocates 
of the oppressed Africans. They were pre- 
sented to His Royal Highness the Duke of 
Gloucester, at that time President of the 
English African Institution, by Mr. Wilber- 
force, member of Parliament ; they were soon 
after introduced by the same gentleman to 
Lord Batliurst, Secretary of State for the 
Colonial Department, and to a long list of 



16 CLAIiMS OF THE AFRICAINS. 

Other Christian philanthropists, who vvitii unit- 
ed voices were proclaiming the wrongs and 
claims of xAfrica. 

During their stay in England, the agents 
received letters of introduction and recom- 
mendation to the Governor of Sierra Leone, 
and other officers there, whose assistance 
would be necessary in the prosecution of their 
mib'sion. Tliey sailed from England in the 
ship Mary, February 7, 1818, and as they 
lay ofF Cape de Verds Islands on the 12th of 
I\larch, their hearts were gladdened with a 
view of Africa. There, do you see the de 
Verds near the African coast? 

Charles. Yes, Pa'. 

J\fr. G. What rivers do you find on the 
west coast ? 

Charles. The Gambia, Kamaranka, Sher- 
'"ro, and Senegal. 

Mr. G. The French own a beautiful little 
island in the last river, about ten miles from 
its mouth. It is called St. Louis, and com- 
mands the trade of the river, and is a military, 
as well as a commercial station, containing 
five or six thousand souls. 

Charles. What place is that. Pa' .'^ point-- 
ing to a small spot on the map. 

Mr. G. The island Goree ; this also belongs 
to the French. It is a barren spot, but very 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 17 

healihy, and is a place of resort for multitudes 
of European invalids. Sometimes within the 
circumference of a quarter of a mile, you 
may find five or six thousand people. Do 
you see the mouth of the Gambia, between 
Banna and Banian Point f 

Charles. Yes, Pa', J do. 

M7\ G. Into tliis river the ship Mary en- 
tered the 1 3th of March, and Mr. Mills and 
Mr. Burgess landed at a little village on the 
Point, called St. Mary's; it was a new place, 
containing seven or eight hundred persons, 
about thirty of whom were Europeans. From 
this vicinity, hundreds of slaves were smuggled 
away by night in canoes, about the time of the 
agents' visit. 

Charles. What is smuggling. Pa' ? 

J\Ir. G. Carrying out of the country, or 
bringing into it, things which are forbidden by 
law. 

The region around St. Mary's looked al- 
most exactly like the large prairies in the 
western States, with here and there a tree of 
enormous size. Mr. Burgess measured one of 
them, and found its cii'cumference forty feet ! 

Clara. What kind of tree was it, Pa' f 

Mr. G. It was called the bread tree ; 
known in botanical books as the Adansonia, 
from Adanson, a celebrated French naturalist. 
2 



18 .. CItAIMS of the AFRICAiNS. 

Charles, how would you measure a tree to 
get at its circumference? 

Charles. Put a line round the body and 
then measure my line. 

Mr. G. Yes; that is right. After staying 
a few days at St. Mary's, Mr. Mills and Mr. 
Burgess went down to Sierra Leone. The 
river of that name, is ten or twelve miles wide 
at its mouth. Freetown makes a very pretty- 
appearance, and the beautiful -white church 
on Leicester mountain, stands in full view as 
you sail up the river. Beyond the white 
church, the green ridges and peaks of moun- 
tains lowering one above atiother, make a 
delightful prospect. 

Janette. Pa', how came a church there? 

Mr. G. It was built by the Church Mission- 
ary Society in England. You shall sometime 
hear about it. There is a great deal to be 
learned about Africa, for till within a few 
years, very little indeed has been known about 
Central Africa. 

Charles. One of the scholars asked the 
master to-day about the river Niger, and he 
told him that he believed the mystery was 
at last solved, that it did not fall into the 
Lake Tschad, nor disappear in the sands 
of the desert, but flowed into the ocean 
near Benin. 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 19 

Mr. G. I have just seen a notice of the 
return of^ Richard and John Lander, from 
their perilous travels in Africa. They say 
that the current flows about four nfiiles an hour, 
and is divided into several branches before it 
comes to the ocean. They say it is ten miles 
wide just before it divides. The larger branch 
is called the Nun. 

Charles. How long do you think it is.'^ 

Mr. G. Fifteen hundred or two thousand 
miles. If it should prove navigable for steam- 
boats through its whole course, how soon the 
gospel and the productions of every country 
will be carried into the very heart of Africa. 
America and all Europe will form settlements, 
and mutually assist in bringing multitudes of 
those dark tribes under the influence of Chris- 
tianity and civilization. 

I cannot spend any more time with you, 
this afternoon. 

Janette. Pa', may we not come and see 
you again, to-morrow, and hear more about 
Mr. Mills and Mr. Burgess.? 

Mr. G. Yes, you may come ; and if I 
can attend to you, I will tell you where they 
went, and what they accomplished while in 
Africa. 

When was the Colonization Societ}'^ formed ? Where ? 
What was its object ? Who first went to Africa to select a 
plan for a colony '( 



CHAPTER II. 

Light of the world arise ! arise ! 

On Africa thy glories shed ; 
Fetter'd in darkness deep she lies 

With weeping eye, and drooping head. 

The children were very much interested 
in their father's relation, and they obtained 
the consent of their mother to go the next 
afternoon from school to the office, to hear 
further about the Colonization Society. When 
ihey arrived, their father was engaged in con- 
versation with Mr. Mason, the minister, and 
Col. Henshavv, upon the impropriety of 
spending the approaching anniversary of Amer- 
ican Independence, in the manner that had 
been customary in that place. Col. Henshaw 
said, he thouglit more youth had been cor- 
rupted, and tempted to vice and intemperance 
on that day, than l)ad generally been acknow- 
ledged, and he sincerely hoped some new 
measures would be adopted to render the oc- 
casion improving to the young people. Mr. 
Granville was superintendent of the Sabbath 
school, and proposed to have all the scholars 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 21 

meet in the church, hear an address in the 
morning, and after the service, forma proces- 
sion, and march to Kim Grove, where he en- 
gaged to erect a shght bovver, and in the 
name of the parents and friends of the Sab- 
bath school promised to furnish them with 
suitable refreshments. Mr. Mason and Col. 
Henshaw approved the plan, and Charles, Ja- 
nette, and Clara were so overjoyed they could 
with difficulty refrain from a boisterous ex- 
pression of their pleasure. 

Mr. Mason had been previously engaged 
to deliver a discourse, and take up a collec- 
tion in favor of the Colonization Society, and 
he felt strengthened, when he found how deeply 
concerned Col. Henshaw and Mr. Granville 
were for its prosperity. The children felt 
somewhat itnpatient to have the gentlemen 
go, though they w^ere delighted with t[je pros- 
pect of having a fine time on the fourth of 
July. 

Mr. Granville waited on his friends to the 
door, and then said to the children, "Who 
can tell me where we left Mr. Mills and Mr. 
Burgess yesterday ?" 

"I can tell; and so can I; and I too," 
said Charles, Janette, and Clara ; " it was at 
the English colony, in Sierra Leone." 

Mr. G. During their stay at that colony, 
2* 



22 CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 

the officers of government, both civil and 
military, paid them the most polite attentions. 
Tliey found a society in operation at Free- 
town, which had been formed at the suggt^s- 
tion of Captain Paul Cuffee. At that time 
John Kizzell was president. 

Charles. Pa', who were those men ? 

Mr. G. Paul CufFee was a colored man, 
born on one of the Elizabeth Islands, near 
New Bedford, in Massachusetts. His early 
years were spent in poverty and obscurity. 
But in after life, by his vigorous mind, and 
uncommon energy of character, he rose from 
his debased condition to wealth and respecta- 
bility. He early manifested a desire to meli- 
orate, the sufferings of his brethren in bon- 
dage ; and as he advanced in life, his enter- 
prise and sympathies were enlisted to raise 
them to civil and religious liberty in the land 
of their forefathers. In the prosecution of 
his benevolent plans, he purchased a vessel, 
made a voyage to Sierra Leone, returned to 
the United States by the way of England, 
where he communicated his views and wishes 
to the officers of the African Institution. En- 
couraged and cheered by increasing prospects 
of accomplishing his object, he offered some 
of the free people of color in Boston a pas- 
sage to Africa, where they might form a set- 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 23 

tlement on the western coast. About forty 
persons accompanied him on his second voy- 
age, the greater part of whom went from 
Boston. So many were anxious to_ go, that 
had his means been equal he might have car- 
ried hundreds, but tliis single expedition cost 
him almost four thousand dollars. 

Mr. Mills had been acquainted with this 
wonderful man several years before he went 
Jo Africa, and was strongly attached to him. 
Hearing of his sickness a short time before 
he sailed to Africa, he made a journey of a 
hundred miles, to comfort him and to obtain 
his counsel and assistance in maturing some 
plan by which they mutually hoped to benefit 
a large portion of the free colored population 
in the United States. 

Janette. Did he recover from that sick- 
ness. Pa' ? 

Mr. G. No, he died in a very happy 
frame of mind in September, 1817. 

Charles. What became of the people he 
carried to Africa ^ 

Mr. G. I never learned their individual 
history, but I have been told that not one of 
them ever wished to return to America. Cap- 
tain Cuffee knew this country well, and Africa 
far better than most men who had visited it. 



24 CLALMS OF THE AFRICANS. 

and to bis dying day he advocated the colo- 
nization plan with great zeal. 

Janette. What a pity that he died, Pa'. 

Mr. G. To short-sighted mortals it ap- 
peared a dark pi'ovidence ; but God is more 
jealous of his own glory than any 'of bis most 
faithful servants, and doubtless had wise and 
benevolent reasons for removing him at such 
a time, though to us clouds and darkness cov- 
ered tliem. 

Clara. Was John Kizzell as good a man 
as Paul Cuffee ? 

Mr. G. He had a strong mind, and had 
acquired some general knowledge, and gave 
much evidence of being under tlie influence 
of Christian principles. 

Charles. Was lie a native of Africa ? 

Mr. G. Yes, but when very young he was 
brought a slave to America. By some means 
he acquired a good common education ; ob- 
tained his freedom ; returned to Africa ; was 
prospered in trade; believed himself called to 
the ministry ; built a cliurch and preaclied the 
gospel to his countrymen. When Mr. Burgess 
and Mr. Mills were in Africa, Kizzell had 
been there twenty years. He owned five or 
six hundred acres of land in the Sherbro 
country, upon an island of that name ; the 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 25 

name of his town was Campelar ; his influ- 
ence was great among the neighboring tribes, 
and he was every where respected. His 
knowledge of the various languages on the 
coast made him extremely useful 10 the Amer- 
ican agents. When they had finished their 
business at the British colony, Mr. Kizzell as- 
sisted them' in their preparations for an ex- 
ploring tour down the coast to Sherbro. 
Here it is, on this map of Liberia, about mid- 
way between Sierra Leone and Cape Mes- 
surado. Campelar village was encircled by 
mangrove trees, which somewhat resemble the 
willows on the Mississippi, below New Or- 
leans, and perhaps still more the Bannian 
tree, of India ; like that, the mangrove boughs 
descend and strike their roots into the earth, 
take root, and form an almost impervious 
range of trunks and foliage. 

Charles. How did they proceed from the 
EuL'-lish colony ^ 

J\lr. G. They engaged a sloop of ten or 
fifteen tons, having an African captain and 
crew. Mr. Mills and Mr. Burgess embarked 
the thirtieth of August, accompanied by Mr. 
Kizzell, Mr. Martin, and Mr. Anderson, the 
pilot. The first day they sailed down the 
coast to the Banana Isles. See if you can 
find them ou the map. 



26 CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS, 

Janette. Here they are, Pa\ 

Mr. .G. Tliey cast anclior off those isl- 
ands, and Mr. Kizzell introdnced the agents 
to Thomas Caulker, the liead man, vvl)! came 
to meet them at the landing place, and very 
urgently invited ihem to walk up to his .). use, 
which they found furnished with chahs, ta- 
bles, and many other things in use among 
civilized people. After hearing the object of 
the mission stated with clearness by Mr. 
Mills, Caulker seemed pleased, and offered 
them a tract of land on the Kamaranka river, 
which he claimed as his territory. Without 
making a bargain, the gentlemen proceeded to 
the Plantains, another cluster of little islands, 
which you will find south of the Bananas. 
At these tlie party stopped, find were received 
by George Caulker, nephew of Thomas. 
He had spent several years in England, and 
had the manners of a European. At first 
George seemed a little alarmed at the pros- 
pect of a colony in his neighborhood, but 
after hearing the agents' statement, he en- 
tered heartily into the views of his uncle, and 
urged them to settle at tlje mouth of the river 
Kamaranka. 

Having their minds fixed upon the island 
of Sherbro, they did not stop long at the 
Plantains, but soon set sail and reached that 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 27 

island in about three days after they embarked 
at Sierra Leone. 

Charles. How large is Sl)erbro Island ? 

Mr. G. Twenty-two miles one way, £[nd 
twelve the other. They landed at Samo, a 
small town containing twenty or thirty huts, 
and were received by a brotlier of the chief. 
He told them, as his brother was not at home, 
he could not ^^ turn one way, or the other;" 
meaning, 1 suppose, that he dared not hazard 
an opinion respecting the proposed colony. 
From thence they went to a little island called 
York, which they judged to be about two 
miles in length, and one in breadth. In this 
place they found the ruins of an old castle, 
which could not have been built less than two 
hundred years. The next day they went to 
Bendou, and found two kir.gSj named Somano, 
and Safah, both seated in ihe palaver house. 
" What house is that, Pa'," said Charles. His 
father replied. It is in Africa what a court- 
house is in the United States, and a council 
house among the Indians ; and is built in 
much the same style as the latter. This one 
had only a conical roof, supported by a few 
posts, but it sheltered the party from the 
scorching rays of a tropical sun. 

Somano was dressed in a gown, pantaloons, 
hat and shoes. Safah was a most laughable 



28 CLALMS OF THE AFRICANS. 

figure ; his face was very broad, even for an 
Afi ican, and his form large ; his silver-laced 
coat, and once elegant military hat, but illy- 
corresponded with his naked feet/ They 
heard the object stated by the agents, who 
were snu'ounded by a considerable number 
of almost entirely naked people, who had 
assembled to hear what the white men had to 
say. Mr. Kizzell acted as interpreter. These 
kings said they were younger brothers to king 
Sherbro, and could do nothing without him. 
Tiiey had plenty of land which they had never 
cultivated. Mr. Mills said he did not believe 
they cultivated one acre in fifty, and he was 
not certain that they did one in five hundred. 
They were very indolent. The kings said if 
they sold lands they wanted the Agents to 
bring out clothes and other things for pay. 
One of them wanted a great hat and some 
shoes ; the other a silver headed cane, and a 
hlack horse tail tied on a handsome handle, 
whicli in Africa is the badge of royalty. 
When the palaver, or, as the Indians would 
say, the talk was ended, and the gentlemen 
walked away, they saw a little hut not much 
larger than a spread umbrella, which was 
called the deviVs house ; it contained shreds 
of cloth, shells, and other things which, I 
suppose, were used in witchcraft. Near this 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 29 

hut was a thicket, ahiiost impenetrable, the 
vines and brush were so tliickly interwoven, 
called the devWs hush. The law of the Pur- 
rahs condejnn to death every woman found 
in it. 

Charles. What was tlie Purrah ? 

Mr. G. A class of men similar to the 
English free masons, though it seems they did 
not depend upon signs to know each other, 
for they were tattooed, that is, they punctured 
the skin, and then nibbed it with indelible 
ink or other coloring materials, in a variety .of 
patterns, as their fancies dictated. I presume 
you have all seen foolish boys at school prick 
the letters of their name on their hands or 
their arms, and rub ink or prussian blue into 
it, which would always remain visible. 

Charles. Yes, Pa', I have, and George 
Temple wanted I should prick the form of an 
anchor on my arm ; he said if I would, he 
would make the picture of a heart on his; 
but I told him you would be displeased if I 
did. 

Mr. G. I should have been highly dis- 
pleased to have seen you disfigured like the 
heathen, and tattooed after their fashions ; it 
is a very foolish practice. 

The agents crossed over Sherbro Bay, 
which is full of little islands, and stopped at 
3 



30 CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 

Yonie, the residence of old king Sherbro and 
his son. Prince Kong Couber. Mr. Kizzell 
went on shore and paved the way for a pala- 
ver, which w^as appointed the next day. 
When the hour arrived, Mr. Mills and Mr. 
Burgess, with their interpreter and attendants, 
went on shore, and found the prince waiting 
at the landing to conduct them to the king's 
house. They found him seated at the door, 
barefoot, dressed in a calico gown, with a cap 
and three cornered hat on his head, a silver- 
headed cane in his left hand, and a black 
horse tail in his right. He rose and led the 
way to a large Cola tree, where the palaver 
was to be held. Sherbro sat on an armed 
chair, the prince on a mat before him, and 
Mr. Mills and Mr. Burgess near the tree, di- 
rectly in front. Many had assembled to see 
and hear ; the men formed a circle on the 
ground ; the women and children sat behind 
the men, some on mats, the rest on the ground. 

Clara. How were the spectators dressed ? 

Mr. G. Some wore long, loose gowns, 
others cotton blankets ; many of the youth of 
both sexes wore folds of native cloth around 
their bodies, very much like the natives at 
Ceylon, wliile the ciiildren wore no clothes 
at all. 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 31 

Janette. They must have looked very. 
nnich like a group of Sandwich Islanders. 

Mr. G. Yes, 1 presume they did. As 
you read about the heathen in the savage or 
barbarous slate, you will perceive that they 
every where appear like children, though as 
large as men and women. 

Before the palaver began, the present 
(without which the natives would not enter 
upon business) was spread out upon a mat in 
the centre, and one of the gentlemen said, 
through the interpreter, — " Good and great 
men, in America, have sent us to talk to king 
Sherbro about the children of those African 
people, who, in times past, have been carried 
from Africa to America. Some of them are 
free to go where they please, and some of 
them think of returning to the land of their 
fathers. Some of the people in our country 
think of helping them, and have sent us to 
speak with Sherbro and other kings, to see if 
l^nds may be given to these strangers, to sit 
down quietly. The people who come, by 
cultivating the ground, and by a knowledge of 
the arts, will increase the necessaries and 
conveniences of life. We come as messen- 
2;ers of peace and good tidings — no arms in 
our hands— wish no^war. If the kings con- 
sent to our wishes, and the people obtain a 



32 CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 

quiet settlement here, we think they will es- 
tablish schools to instruct all the children. 
They will bring the book of God with them | 
and when you are able to understand it, we 
hope it will make you more happy while you 
live here, and after you die. What word will 
king Sherbro send back to our country f" 
The prince Kong Couber managed the whole 
business; and though he said, " All you say 
is well, very well," yet he expressed much 
dissatisfaction with the agents, because they 
had previously called upon his uncles Somano 
and Safah, and nothing would pacify him till 
those kings were sent for. The next day was 
the Sabbath, and Mr. Mills and Mr. Burgess 
felt anxious to do something for the spiritual 
good of those dark minded heathen ; and 
calling upon the prince, they told him how the 
Sabbath was observed in Christian countries, 
and that God's book was explained to the 
people. Kong Couber answered, " All peo- 
ple should be glad to hear God's book — it is 
the best book — God's palaver is the old and 
good palaver." Mr. Mills then stated to him 
the belief of Christians respecting the crea- 
tion of the world — the full of man — the Way 
to be saved — the resurrection — day of judg- 
ment — heaven and hell. The prince listened 
with fixed attention to all he said, and when 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 33 

Mr. xMills ceased, Mr. Kizzell said, " I have 
lived twenty years at Sherbro, but in all that 
time the island has never been visited by two 
so good men, on so good an errand." 

Somano and Safah had been sent for, and 
the agents waited three days without hearing 
from them ; then an embassy, consisting of 
Thomas and George Caulker, Martin, and 
one of Sherbro's subjects, were fitted out, 
wiih instructions to bring them before they 
slept. They brought both kings the same 
evening, but the death of one of the wives of 
Kong Couber retarded the progress of the 
negotiation. 

Janette. Pa', how many wives do the men 
have in Africa ^ 

Mr. G. As many as they have money to 
buy ; some have but two, others ten, twenty, 
or thirty, and I heard of one African prince 
that had three thousand. The first wife is 
called the head ivife, and is treated with more 
respect than the others. The husband makes 
them all work. 

Clara. Do they wail and cry, Pa', like the 
natives of the Sandwich Islands ^ 

Mr. G. They do when those they respect 
and love are removed by death. A favorite 
head man died, the people flocked together 
from all parts of the country vvhere he was 



34 CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 

known, and during the cry^ or the time pre- 
scribed for wailing, dancing, and beating upon 
gongs, (a kind of drum,) 1 was told t.'jey 
drank twenty puncheons of rum! an article 
of which the natives are as fond as the In- 
dians, and it is nearly impossible to transact 
any kind of business with the head men, 
without having rum one part of the present. 

Clara. What things do their presents 
commonly consist off 

Mr. G. Tobacco, powder, rum, calico, 
beads, looking-glasses, and showy trinkets of 
almost every description. The trade goods 
consist of these things, with the addition of 
iron pots of different sizes, fire arms, clothes, 
and other things, 1 presume, that 1 do not now 
remember. A great part of the intempe- 
rance and vice every where visible on the 
coast, was introduced, and has been increased 
by the wicked slave traders. 

Janette. Pa', how long did the agents have 
to wait for the funeral of Kong Couber's wife ^ 

Mr. G. Until Friday ; then the whole 
party met again under the shade of the same 
beautiful Cola tree ; all the kings waved their 
black horse tails with as much self compla- 
cency as the ancient emperors raised their 
golden sceptres. The palaver lasted several 
hours ; many objections were started, and an- 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 35 

swered at considerable length, but nothing 
definite was settled. The agents were per- 
mitted to explore the coast, and travel into 
the interior, and if they chose, they had leave 
to visit all the kings and head men, &:c. It 
was very evident that these kings did not 
know how to deal with men of integrity and 
honor, having never had much intercourse 
with foreigners, except slave traders, who are 
exceedingly vile. 

Clara. Are slave traders those people 
who steal men and children and carry them 
off and sell them ^ 

JVIr, G. Those persons who steal men, 
women and children, are called kidnappers, 
who are usually employed by the slave tra- 
ders. I could tell you a great many very af- 
fecting stories about the poor Africans who 
have been sold into slavery, if 1 had time. 

Janette. 1 wish you would find time, Pa' ; 
cannot you have time this evening ? 

Mr. G. (Taking out his watch,) I have 
an engagement immediately after tea, and we 
have now but a few moments more to spend ; 
you must ask your mother to tell you the his- 
tory of the slave trade, as she has opportu- 
nity. I will give you an account of one more 
Sabbath spent by the agents at Sherbro. It 
was a serious question with them, whether it 



3G CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 

was their duly to go ajid preach die gospel in 
llie villages, or to remain quiet, speaking only 
to such as Providence threw in their way. 
Upon reflection, they thought it best to con- 
verse only widi individuals, so they sung 
psalms and hymns, and conversed from the 
fourth commandment with Kong Cauber and 
others, who seemed desirous of receiving in- 
struction. The prince was not insensible to 
the advantages uhich might be derived from 
the introduction of schools, and knowledge of 
agriculture, and of the mechanic arts ; yet 
he seemed to have many fears that if a col- 
ony should come and settle in the midst of 
them, it might wish to bear rule, he. 

On Monday they obtained a canoe, hired 
three men to paddle them, and started for the 
Boom river, wijich is about four miles from 
the river Shebar, (there it is on the mnp of 
Liberia, a little noilh of Jeiddns' Island). 
After rowing between twenty and thirty miles, 
they came to the town of James Tucker, a 
dark mulatto of about forty-five, v;ho hr<d 
risen from obscurity to wealth and pov. er, 
leaving under him five or six hundred people. 
Charles. How did he acquire his riches.^ 
JVIj'. G. By trade ; he had furnished a 
2:reat many ships with slaves, but at that time 
v^<\s not deei)ly concerned in that detestable 



CLALMS OF THE AFRICANS. 37 

traffic. The arrival of strangers was an- 
nounced by the firing of a six pounder. Mr. 
Tucker treated them with great attention, 
gave thenrj a house to occupy, and prepared 
them a good dinner of mutton, and a variety 
of vegetables. Mr. Mills said, *' We might 
have forgotten where we were, if ihe head 
wife had not been obliged to come forward to 
eat ihe first spoonful, to assure her suspicious 
lord that she had infused no poison in the 
dish." Mr. Tucker devoted the remainder 
of the day to his guests, appeared highly 
pleased with their plan, and offered them latid 
upon the Boom, if they found it suited their 
purpose. When the agents spoke of the 
advantages of trade which might be carried 
on with the colonists, in the productions of 
Africa, Tucker seemed gratified and said, 
" Then we shall not have to catch the people 
and sell them as we have done." One of 
Tucker's people, on learning the object of the 
visitors, asked him " how it could be true that 
the Americans would let the people of color 
come back to Africa, when they were so eager 
to buy slaves ? " 

Charles. Do you wonder he made the 
inquiry, Pa'? 

Mr. G. No, Charles, I do not. When 
Mr. Mills and Mr. Burgess arrived, they pre- 



38 CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 

sented Mr. Tiickei* with a dozen knives and 
forks and a little tobacco, of Which the natives 
are particularly fond ; this probably secured 
to them more attention, than they would have 
had without a present. Before they retired 
to rest, they were furnished with a warm bath, 
which is a great luxury to travellers, especially 
in warm countries. It was a pleasant sight to 
see the natives coming in from the plantations 
at sunset, laden with their implements of in- 
dustry, fruits, baskets, and wood ; all came 
forward to pay their respects to the white 
gentlemen. They were introduced by Tuck- 
er to the king of Cotton, whose name was 
Soyarrah, and whose extensive territory lay 
between the Boom and Deong rivers. Mr. 
Kizzell said he had but a handful of people, 
thougli his land would measure thirty by 
twenty miles. Soyarrah had been so often 
imposed upon by foreigners, that he had be- 
con:ie very suspicious, and cautious ; however 
he cordially approved the plan of colonizing, 
and offered to sell as much land as they 
wanted, and receive pay in goods. Tucker 
and all his people are extremely superstitious ; 
it is comnu^n for them to accuse each other of 
witchcraft, and of tui-ning themselves into alli- 
G;ntors and leopards to catch the people for 
slaves, and Vvhen cor.domned, they are sold 



I 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 39 

into slavery, or made, ^to drink a fatal poison 
called ihe red water. But notwithstanding his 
ignorance and superstition, he was considered 
a head man, and exerted great influence, heing 
connected by marriage with most of the lead- 
ing chiefs in that region. One of Kong Cou- 
ber's daughters, and a sister of Caulker, 
were among his wives. He was almost the 
only man in the Shcrbro country, who had 
ever attetnpted to raise cattle. He exchanged 
two goats with a sea captain for a small cow, 
in 1811, and seven years afterwards he had 
thirty head of cattle, of a good size, most of 
them fat and lively ; cattle do not ever feed 
on hay there, but run about in the woods and 
supply their own wants the year round. Slieep, 
goats, and fowls were very plenty. 

The next day, as the travellers were ex- 
amining the country, they came upon some of 
the natives at work in a rice field ; at the sight 
of white men, the women and children ran 
and hid in the long grass, and the men fled to 
the woods, till the well known voice of the 
kind hearted Kizzell brought them back. — 
They seemed delighted to see the company, 
but their pleasure was mingled with fear. 

Janette. Do you not thin.k they were fear- 
ful of being stolen, Pa' ? 

Mr. G. Yes ; 1 presume it v/as fear of 



40 CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 

that, which made them hide. Mr. Mills 
thought he had never witnessed more beauti- 
ful natural scenery, on the banks of any 
American river, than was displayed on both 
sides of the river Boom. When ftlr. Tuck- 
er's guests took leave, he presented them with 
a cotton blanket and a basket of rice, for the 
managers of the Colonization Society. We 
must go home to tea now, and take another 
opportunity to follow the gentlemen on their 
journey. You niust remember that we leave 
Mr. Mills and Mr. Burgess just ready to de- 
part from Mr. Tucker's. 

Charles. (Looking on the map.) Pa', I 
do not find the river Deong here. 

Mr. G. I presume not; the Deong, the 
Boom, and the Bagroo are branches of the 
river Sherbro. 



Who was Paul Cuffee ? and who John Kozzell ? What 
places were visited by Rev. Mr. Burgess and Mr. Mills ? 
What are kidnappers? Tell what you can recollect of the 
Kings Sherbro— Safah — Somano — Soyarrah, and the Chiefs. 



CHAPTER III. 

I would not have a slave to till my g:round, 
To carry lae, to fan me while I sleep, 

And tremble when I wake, for all the wealth 
Tliat sinews bought and sold have ever earn'd. 

The next morning, I\Ir. Granville could not 
resist the imporiunities ofliis cl)ilciren, to hear 
farilier from Mr. Mills and Mr. Burgess after 
they left Mr. Tucker's, therefore he devoted 
to llieni an hour after breakfast, and told them 
that th.e gentlemen were rowed down to the 
mouth of the Boom, where tliey arrived about 
severi in the evening. The wind being fresh 
and the night dark, they thought it most pru- 
dent to go on shore. The head man of a 
little village called Runta, received them very 
courteously, and fiu'uished them with a com- 
fortable room, and bed, both of which were 
hung round with mats of very beautiful work- 
mansliip, somewhat like those sent by the 
missionaries from the Sandwich islands. The 
chiefs house, with nearly or quite a dozen 
others, were overshadowed by a cluster of 
palm, cocoa nut, banana, and plantain trees. 



42 CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 

The rice fields were back of llie iiouses, and 
the [)ath which led to iheiu was lined with 
sugar cane, cotton shrubs, and cassada plants. 
The whole was encircled by forest trees cov- 
ered with vines of the most beautiful foliage. 
M\\ Mills remarked, " were it the abode of 
innocence, it might be esteemed a garden of 
Eden." 

Clara. Pa', what is cassada^ 

Mr. G. A plant and root resembling our 
artichokes. Tapioca is prepared from it. 

Charles. Where did the agents go from 
this beautiful place ? 

Mr. G. To Sherbro Bay, which (hey 
crossed, and when off Yonie they went on 
shore to see their friend Kong Couber. He 
was pleased to see them again, and inquired 
with much interest when they would come 
again, tliat if they vv'ould come tlie next day, 
the head men should meet together, and settle 
the whole business to their satisfaction. 

He was told that others from America might 
come, but probably they should never return, 
but that if they lived, Kong Couber should 
receive from them letters and presents which 
would convince him, that his kindness had not 
been forgotten. The prince seeing them about 
to go, gave them a goat, and sent two mats to 
their ilmerkan fathers . He walked with them 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 43 

to the bead), and at partiiii^ irave tlieni his 
hand, saying in English, "AJay God bless 
yon, and give you a good voyage to your 
country." After they were on board their 
schooner, and had set sail, they saw the prince 
silting in a pensive and melancholy attitude 
beneath the shade of an orange tree. 

Charles, To what place did the schooner 
sail ? 

Mr. G. To Bendou, the residence of 
King Sotnano. The gentlemen found Safiih 
in the palaver house with Somano and his 
people trying the queen for witchcraft. She 
had been made to drink the red water, and 
having survived, her innocence was proved ; 
then in her turn she had brought a charge of 
false accusation, and how long the palaver had 
been held when the travellers arrived, I do 
not know. They were told that the queen's 
people had killed an elephant within a {q\v 
days, which to the Africans is a sure token of 
the favor of their gods. Great honor was put 
upon the men who had performed the heroic 
exploit, and they with their wives occupied 
the most conspicuous seaJs. The richness of 
the dresses and ornaments of the elephant 
hunters, exceeded any before witnessed in 
that part of the country. After some con- 
versation with the kings, who passed many 



44 CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 

censures upon Kong Coiiber for inking too 
much upon himself at the Yonie palaver, lliey 
parted from them pleasantly, and went back 
to York island, only six or eight nnles, an- 
chored near the shore, and staid till morning. 
April 16, they hired a canoe, and began to 
ascend the river Deong, which is a mile wide 
at the mouth ; this river is divided into two 
channels by a series of islands, which extend 
from twenty to thirty miles. After ascending 
about ten miles, a stream falls into the Deong 
in the right channel, from Soyarrah's territory. 

At that place the water is fresh, and a high 
hedge of rocks rises in the middle of the river ; 
the agents ordered their men to paddle towards 
it ; this they dared not do, for ihey believed 
it was inhabited by demons who would puui^;!], 
if not destroy them. They were commanded 
to proceed with considerable authority ; they 
did so, but with much fear and trembling, all 
the way throwing: water in the air, as if to ap- 
pease the evil spirits, into whose dcnninions 
they had so reluctantly entered. 

The natives say these rocks have often 
crossed the liver above and below their pres- 
ent resting place, to the terror of the whole 
country. 

in ascending this river, the cnnoe pnssed 
several small villages, that seemed in a thriv- 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 45 

ing condition, hiit the gentlemen saw the ruins 
of many more, vvliich appeared to have been 
recently deserted. The desolating march of 
war and the slave trade are nowhere more 
visible, than on the fertile banks of the Deong. 

The agents were treated kindly at the vil- 
lages at which they called, especially at the 
one owned by TJiomas Tittle, a fair mulatto; 
when he w^as a little boy, his father, who was 
the captain of a slave ship, sent him to Eng- 
land to be educated. His father died not 
long after, and he returned to Africa almost 
as ignoi-ant as when he left the country. He 
spoke English fluently, and appeared intelli- 
gent. Papurrh is the name of another place 
on this river, owned by James Cleveland, who 
bad a good education, and was a man of in- 
fluence, having about five hundred people 
under him, and being a sort of guardian over 
four or five towns. Will Comherhuss was 
another chief who lived on this river, and ex- 
pressed pleasure at the prospect of a colony. 
He said it would be a good thing to have 
])eo])le come and bring knowledge, for, said 
he, " the land will produce rice, cotton, coffee, 
tobacco, and all good things, but the people 
do not hiow.''^ 

Charles. Is the laud high or low on this 
river, Pa' ? 

4* 



46 CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 

J\[r, Cr. In many plnces It is low and cov- 
ered with mangroves, (a species of willow 
tree.) but over twenty miles above tb.e niouih 
there is a bluff fotty feet hi^b, which exiemls 
far enough to build on it a large town. The 
river in that place is little more lliau a hun- 
dred yards across. It was a lovely spot. 
The Kurboo mountains approach the river 
below Papurrh, and in many places the Perra 
mountains rise up in fidl view. 

The agents returned to Sherbro sound on 
Saturday, and anchored off Campelar, a small 
village owned by Mr. Kizzell, where they 
spent the Sabbath. This is a low, unhealshy 
spot, surrounded by mangroves, but open to 
the sea l)reeze. I'he next day two messen- 
gers were sent for king Farrtj who lived nt 
JMarro, upon the island of Sherbro, about 
twelve miles from Campelar. His majesty 
made his a[)peai-ance on Wednesday morning, 
attended by Raugo, his chief man. He spent 
most of the day in makinii inquiries of ihe 
inter[)relcrs resj)eci!ng tlie plans atul wishes 
of the strangers. Tlmi-sday the 22d of April, 
Mr. JMills and Mr. Burgess had an interview 
with Fara, and refieated all the statements 
which he had heard from Kizzell the day be- 
foie ; Rango spoke for hitn in reply, almost 
f )iacily in the style of an Indian chief, saying, 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 47 

"We bear you; we lil*;e V'lir words; mny 
God l)less you, o;ive yon health and loiiii; life ; 
may he bless Kizzei!, Mailiii, and ihe Caulk- 
ers too, because liiey weie ^ood in coudng to 
inlroduce you. We shall not say much now: 
Fara,yfMi see, is young, a boy; be will stand 
behind Slierbio, and will speak ihe same word 
as iiis father. We have not talked vviih Sher- 
bro — you have; you have seen Caulker, Tuck- 
er, Soyarrah. They have offered you lands: 
which do you fancy most .^ When a man 
wants a wile, and goes to a father wlio has 
many daughters, he lelis the fithei- which he 
likes best," he. He was told that otdy a 
small part of ll)e country had been seen, and 
the agents were not ready to make a selection, 
and that before they made their choice known 
to the kings, they must go back to America 
and return again. 

Raniro gave them the freedom of his cotm- 
try, the Bagroo in the name of his king, and 
told tlipu] that " ?Y was ivide and vacant^ 
Soon after this interview, the parly left Carn- 
pelar and sailed for the mouth of the Bagroo 
river. This river is of various widths the first 
six. tniles ; in some places it is a mile wide, in 
others a mile and a lialf, and afier you have 
ascended a few miles, the river Banga empties 
into it from a mouth a quarter of a mile wide, 



48 CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 

and a little above, the Robanna enters it on the 
left, with a mouti) one hundred yards wide. 
This beautiful stream flows out of the Bagroo 
about fifteen or twenty miles above, and after 
meandering about twenty or thirty miles, joins 
it at this place. After ascending ten miles 
above the Banga, the river Mano comes 
curving and winding along, about one hundred 
yards wide, till it unites with the Bagroo. 
Tiie agents selected a spot for a town, at the 
confluence of the IMano and Bagroo. The 
Mano mountain, or a ridge of it, terminates 
very abruptly on the left bank, and adds much 
to the wildness and beauty of the scenery. 
Stones, large timber, and good mill sites, with 
strong indications of abundance of iron ore, 
satisfied the explorers tiiat they had at length 
discovered a most eligible spot on which to 
plant a colony. They were informed that the 
whole country^ from the IMano to the Timma- 
nees, was destitute of inhabitants, a distance 
of eighty or ninety miles. All the natives on 
this river appeared hospitable and kind, and 
very generally expressed a desire for the colo- 
nists to arrive. Great attention was paid by 
them, to whatever the agents said about God's 
book, schools, &ic. &:c. The travellers went 
up the JMano about ten miles, and stopped at 
a small village called Tasso, in full view of 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 49 

the mount Mano, uliich lias such a gradual 
ascent, that towns might easily be built if the 
soil proved fertile. A trading establishment 
called Liverpool stood just below Tasso, own- 
ed by one of the first settlers of Sierra Leone. 
Mr. Jones, the owner, and his son had lived 
there many years, and appeared to be well 
informed Christians. They expressed anxiety 
for the improvement of the natives. Tasso 
was a most wicked place. Somango the 
chief appeared friendly, and took an oppor- 
tunity to remind Mr. Kizzell of the custom of 
strangers making a present of wine or rum. 
Mr. Kizzell said, " Slave traders give you 
rum to make you quarrel, and st^ll each other: 
this is what tiiey want ; but the strangers I 
have brought, come to open your eyes, and 
not to blind tliem ; and they hope to find and 
leave yon sober, that yon may be able to give 
a true answer, and speak good words." l'l)e 
agents improved their time, and paifl a visit to 
Sologo, the principal man in the Bagroo. He 
was very aged and feeble, his head and beard 
as white as snow ; his residence was on the 
island of Robanna, which is about fiheen miles 
long and five wide, formed by the rivers Bag- 
roo and Kobanna. Pa Poosa was the last 
ro) al personage they visited ; lie lived at Ban- 
dasuma, on the river Banga. This king was 



50 CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 

nearly seventy, but he look a deep interest in 
the mission of the agents, and expressed joy 
at the prospect of having the rising generation 
instructed. Many of his counsellors were 
absent, and did not return till dark. He then 
sent for Mv. i\Iills and Mr. Burgess to cotne 
to the king's house, to hear their answer. 
When Mr. Mills ariived at the humble palace, 
he found a wax candle burning against the 
wall, and the people ready to address him. 
A brother of Pa Poosa said, " May God bless 
you, and as you came in health to this coun- 
try, may you return in health to your own. 
We are glad to hear what you liad to say ; 
we like it well. The old people among us 
wish you had come before. They are now 
afraid they will die too soon. They want to 
see the time when the people will come to 
this country to teach the children to read and 
write, and to know the true God. The king 
says I must tell you he likes the object much ; 
and if the other kings call him to say what is 
in l)is heart, he shall say, give the people land. 
The old people will die fools, but if these 
people come from America, the children will 
turn and know more than their fathers." 
Perhaps among all tlje kings and chiefs, none 
were more pleasant and amiable than Pa 
Poosa and Kong Couber ; both seemed to 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 51 

have clearer apprehensions of God and the 
nature of religion, than any of the others. 
Kong Couber offered to send two of his sons 
to America to be educated, and ap|3eared to 
enter into the spirit of improvement in agri- 
cukure and domestic economy. He seemed 
convinced, that a great revolution in Africa 
might be effected, by the introduction of 
wheels, looms, mills, ploughs, and various 
kinds of labor-saving machinery, schools, 
teachers, he. 

Janette. Pa', do you suppose tliat the na- 
tives had no kind of religion ? 

Mr. G. I fear they had none calculated 
to make them holy. They had some indis- 
tinct notions of a Supreme Being, but thought 
him perfectly indifferent to the concerns of 
mankind. 1'hey believed that inferior evil 
spirits continually followed every individual, 
and occasioned ail the suffering that was en- 
tlured. They show^ed great anxiety to ap- 
pease the anger of these demons, and avert 
the evils they were preparing for them. To 
do this, they made offerings of such things as 
they thouglit would pacily them, and some- 
times strewed fruits and flowers around the 
villages, and spread mats by the way side. 
Sometimes tliey prayed under the sacred 



52 CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 

trees, or upon t!ie graves of their ancestors. 
They have great faiih in their gree.i^rees. 

Janette. VVhiit are greegrtes. Pa'? 

M?\ G. The same as aM)ulets and charnns. 
They are cominonly made of leather or silk 
cm round hke 'a pin-ball, and sewed togeilier, 
enck)sing a piece of pn|)er vviih the word God, 
wj-ilten in Arabic. These are geneially worn 
around the nerk or arms, and thought to be a 
sure defence against sickness, and a variety of 
cahimilies procured by invisible agencies. — 
On one occasion, i\Jr. Mills and iMr. Burgess 
had a season of prayer in the presence of a 
native, who said to his friend, " I never knew 
before, that white men prayed." 

Charles. If he had never been acquainted 
with any white men, except slave-traders, do 
vou think he ever liad heard a prayer before? 

Mr. G. No, Charles, I do not. 

Janette. How much land did the agents 
wish to purchase of the kings ^ 

Mr. G. A large territory. When they 
returned to Siei-ia Leone, they supposed that 
they could readdy obta'ui a title to three thou- 
sand square miles, almost entirely destitute of 
inhabitants, so fertile and healthy, that with 
ordinary culture, it w^ould suslain at least 
twenty thousand inliabiiants. 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 53 

Charles. Would it not have required im- 
mense labor to clear it fit fdr culiivalion? 

Mr. G. No, I think not; for Mr. Kizzell 
offered to clear two or three hundred acres, 
and said it coidd not cost more than five or 
six dollars an acre; and a Mr. Wilson, who 
once lived in the United Sti^tes, told Mr. 
Mills that a good house in the native style, 
might be built for ten or twelve dollars. 

Janette. How large, Pa' ? 

J\Ir. G. Ten feet by fifteen or twenty, is 
the comiT)on size of a native house. The 
agents left the residence of Pa Poosa on the 
2d of May, with two leopard skins as a token 
of tiis friendly regards. When they went on 
board the schooner, they found the men had 
brought two boat loads of fine oysters, from 
th.e oyster banks in that neigiiborhood. 

On their way to Sierra Leone, they called 
at the Banana isles, and left the messensijers 
furnished by Caulker, and reached Sierra 
Leone in four days. At this colony they re- 
mained about two weeks, visiting the governor, 
most of the civil and military officers, the 
clergymen, and many of the colonists; by all 
of whom they were treated with every mark 
of attention and hospitality. On the 22d of 
May, they embarked for the United Stales by 
the way of England, grateful for all the in- 
5 



54 CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 

formation they had collected, and the apparent 
success with which their mission had been 
crowned. As these friends stood upon the 
quarter deck, taking a last farewell of unhappy 
Africa, Mr. Mills said to Mr. Burgess, " We 
may now be thankful to God, and congratu- 
late each other, that the labors and dangers of 
our mission are past. The prospects are fair, 
that we shall once more return to our dear 
native land, and see the faces of our beloved 
parents and friends." About two weeks after 
this, he took a heavy cold and was somewhat 
feverish, but able to walk about and write a 
little. The usual remedies were applied, and 
for several days it was thought his health was 
slowly recovering. But these flattering hopes 
could not long be indulged, it was evident that 
.an inward fever was preying upon him, which 
prevented quiet sleep, and often occasioned 
extreme pains in the head.^ On the 14th of 
June he had no fever, and enjoyed a Sabbath 
of rest. He conversed upon religious sub- 
jects with Mr. Burgess, and seemed to be in 
a very elevated fi'ame .of mind. Toward 
evening he was in much pain, and his mind 
began to wander ; a distressing hiccup came 
on, which filled his beloved colleague with the 
most painful apprehensions. Monday his hic- 
cup continued, but he Vv'as able to sit up a 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 55 

little, and walked across the cabin. The fol- 
lowing morning the hiccup abated, and he had 
repeated seasons of quiet sleep, though of 
short duration; he knew those about him, and 
answered questions correctly. He seemed 
fully aware of his situation, and expressed 
unwavering confidence in God, and a hope 
full of immortality. Two or three hours after, 
the "hiccup ceased. There was no convul- 
sion — no deep groan. He gently closed his 
hands on his breast, as if to engage in some 
act of devotion, and while a celestial smile 
settled upon his countenance, and every fea- 
ture expressed the serenity and meekness of 
his soul, he ceased to breathe," leaving Africa 
and the world to mourn the loss of one of the 
most devoted and benevolent men of the age. 
Janette, have you ever read tlie Memoir of 
this excellent man ? 

Janette. 1 never did. Pa'. 

Mr. G. I hope you will ask for it the next 
time you are entitjed to a book from the Sab- 
bath scliool library. Every scholar and teach- 
er ought to read it. 

I must go to the office now : after dinner, 
I will tell you about the return and efforts of 
Mr. Burgess and other friends of the Coloni- 
zation Society. 



CHAPTER IV. 

Oh Afiic ! raise thy voice and weep 
For him who sousiht to heal thy wo, 

Whose bones beneath the briny deep 
Bleach where the pearl and coral glow. 

Mr. Granvii.lk fiilfillecl liis eno;no;ement, 
and infonned the children ihnt Mr. Burgess 
reliirneti to the United Stales by ihe wuy of 
En,ii;hu)d, in OcMober, 1818. 

Janetie. Pa', vvlicn did yon say ihat Mr. 
Mdls died.? 

Mr. G. On the IGth of June, 1818, in 
the ihiriy-sixih year of his aii;e. 

Clara. Was he buried iu llie sea, Pa'.? 

Mr. G. Yes, my dear; " as the sufi was 
going down, all on board assembled with great 
seriousness — a cii-cle of mourners — when 
will) painful solemnity, and lender supplica- 
tions to the God of heaven, his body was de- 
posited beneath the mighly waters, there lo 
rest till that great day, when the sea shall 
give up her dead." 

Janette. Pa', do tell us more about Mr. 
Mills. 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 57 

Mr. G. I will give you a brief sketch of 
bis life and labors, in the hope you will be 
excited to follow the bright path through 
which he ascended from earth to heaven ; for 
great and good as he was, each one of y-ou, 
my children, may attempt as much for the 
good of your fellow men as he accomplished ; 
and if you live as near to God as he did, you 
will be a rich blessing to the world. His fa- 
ther was a minister in the State of Connecti- 
cut, and his mother was a native of the same 
State ; they were both eminently pious. Sam- 
uel John was their seventh child, and by his 
mother he was given up to God as a mission- 
ary in his earliest infancy, and by himself at 
the time of his conversion, when a youth. 
From that memorable day when he was 
translated from the kingdom of darkness into 
the kingdom of God's dear Son, his heart 
yearned over the miseries of the heathen 
world. During his whole college course the 
glory of his Saviour in the salvation of sin- 
ners seemed to be ever uppermost in his 
thoughts. Through his labors and prayers, 
while a menjber of college, many of his fel- 
low students were led to seek an interest in 
Christ, who are now preaching the gospel to 
a dying world. 

Mr. Mills was a remarkably modest and 
5* 



58 CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 

humble man, and seldom spoke of the great 
things that were accompliolied through his 
instiumentahty ; but genilemen who knew liis 
plans and efforts attribute to him a special 
agency in bringing forward the subject of 
missions in this coimiry. The first missiona- 
ries from America to foreign lands were the 
bosom friends of Mr. Mills. He seemed 
born to hy plans, and to induce others to ex- 
ecute them. You recollect Obookiah, I pre- 
sume. 

Children. O yes, Pa', was this the Mr. -■ 
Mills who learned him to read at Yale col- 
lege ^ 

Mr. G. Yes, he graduated at Williams 
college, and spent a few months as a resident 
graduate at Yale, during which time Oboo- . 
kiah was introduced to his notice. 

At the Theological Seminary at Andover, 
he found some of those kindred spirits with 
whom at Williams college he had taken sweet 
counsel and prayed and planned for the ad- 
vancement of tl)e Redeemer's kingdom in 
Cliristian and pagan countries; and Dr. Grif- 
fin said some time since, " I have been in 
situations to Aiiow that from the counsels 
fornled in that sacred conclave, or from the 
mind of Mills himself, arose the American 
Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 59 

tlie American Bible Society, the United 
Foreign Missionary Socieiy, and the African 
School, under the care of the Synod of New 
York and New Jersey, besides all the impe- 
tus given to domestic missions, to the Colo- 
nization Society, and to the general cause of 
benevolence in boili hemispheres. And if I 
had any instrumentality in originating any of 
those measures, I here publicly declare that 
in every instance, 1 received the first impulse 
from Samuel John Mills." 

Mrs. Granville had listened with fixed at- 
tention to the conversation, and when her 
husband paused at the close of Dr. GrifHn's 
remarks, she exclaimed, "' Behold, what a 
great matter a little fire kindleih !' shall 1 
ever again dare to despise the day of small 
things f Who can follow out the results of 
this humble, unaspiring man's exertions, du- 
ring his short life, without breaking out in as- 
tonishment, ' Wliai hath God wrought .^' Do 
look at Bombay, Ceylon, the Sandwich isl- 
ands, China, Palestine, Greece, and all the 
tribes on our western frontier, and compute, 
if you can, the amount of good accomplished 
through the agency of tfie American Board 
of Missions since the day Mills, Hall, Jndson, 
Newell, and their coadjutors, prayed it into 



60 CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 

Mr. G. Would to God we could pray as 
they prayed ; then we might expect to see the 
work of the Lord prospering in our hands as 
it did in theirs, and our children growing up 
to become standard bearers in the army of 
King Immanuel. 

Mrs. G. Why may we not ? with God is 
the residue of the spirit; he will give us as 
large measures of grace as we desire and 
ask for in uprightness. 

Mr. G. This review of ^lills's life has 
fired my soul anew with burning desires to 
walk in his steps, to aim at as high achieve- 
ments, and to expect divine aid in their per- 
formance. 

I will now resume my narrative. Mr. Mills 
completed his course at Andover, in the fall 
of 1812, just eighteen years ago to-morrow, 
and made preparations for a tour through the 
western and southern States, under the com- 
bined direction and patronage of the mission-' 
ary societies of Massachusetts and Connecti- 
cut. During the years 1812 and 1813 he 
performed his first tour, and his second in 
1814 and 1815. It would take me the whole 
of this day to enumerate one half of all he 
said and did while engaged in these missions 
— the tracts he distributed, and the societies 
he formed for the diffusion of both tracts and 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 61 

bibles. Who will doubt that much of the 
present povverful excitement in favor of the 
great western valley, origiriaieH in the exer- 
tions and prayers of Mills, Smith, and Scher- 
merhnrn, uliile engaj^ed in that western mis- 
sion ? They doubtless paved the way for a 
liost of worthies, wiio have followed them 
over the lofty Alleghanies and descended into 
the vale below, and reared churches, colleges, 
and academies ; opened Sabbadi schools, 
those nurseries of the chnrch and fonnlnins 
of pieiy that are sending out streams to purify 
and fertilize- the world. 

Afier Ml-. Mills's first mission to the south 
and wos!, his heart was burdened with the 
condition of Africa and her degraded de- 
sceniiants, and he unbosomed his full heart to 
several of his most confidential friends, v\ ho 
fell assured that " he was actuated by a power 
of feeling, and a confidence of faiih, and 
a disinterestedness of desire, that prepared 
him to compass sea anil land, to perform any 
labor, to eudiue any losses, to sustain any 
sacrifice, in tiie j)rosecution of his design, 
and, if it were necessary, to die in the ser- 
vice of Africa." 

For months before he sailed for that conti- 
nent he visited many sections of country, and 
took up colieciions in many cities, and in 



62 CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 

every possible way aided the cause of the Col- 
onization Society, which you recollect was 
ori^anized January 1st, 1817. 

Mrs. G. Did not Mr. Mills and Mr. Bur- 
gess sail for Africa the November following.'* 

Mr. G. They did so, and Mr. Burgess 
returned to the United States in October, 
1818, with a vast fund of information, which 
he had gained from the natives on the coast, 
the officers, clergymen, and colonists at Sierra 
Leone, and the friends of Africa in England. 
The important and interesting facts which 
he laid before the Society, brought them to 
a full determination to lay the foundations of 
their colony as speedily as possible. Exertions 
were made to remove prejudices, and subdue 
opposition which had arisen from several 
quarters. Measures to enlighten the ignorant, 
to secure the aid of individuals and the gen- 
eral government, were steadily pursued by 
the friends of the cause through the year 
1819. 

A considerable number of emigrants stood 
pledged to go to Africa the first opportunity, 
but as only a small part of them could be 
furnished with conveyance, it required great 
wisdom to make a judicious selection. Sev- 
eral notorious evasions of the laws of the 
United States, prohibiting the slave trade, 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 63 

were brought to light about this time, and the 
President commishioned the sloop of war 
Cyane, of twenty-four guns, to cruise on the 
African coast, and capture all American ves- 
sels found engaged in that abominable com- 
merce, to restore ilie poor slaves on board to 
their own country. He also chartered the 
mercbant ship Elizabeth, of three hundred 
tons, to convey those emigrants that had been 
selected, and he appointed the Rev. Samuel 
Bacon, and Mr. John P. Bankson, agents for 
government, with instructions to lake the 
emigrants under their direction, with whose 
assistance they were expected to clear lands 
and erect houses, for the accommodation of 
the recaptured Africans which should be re- 
covered and sent back. It was expected that 
Mr. Bacon would attend to the wants of such 
slaves as might be liberated by the Cyane and 
other vessels of war from the slave ships, 
under the American flag. The Colonization 
Society appointed Dr. Samuel A. Crozer 
their agent. About thirty families, including 
eighty-nine individuals of both sexes and all 
ages, assembled in New York the last of Jan- 
uary, 1820, destined for Africa. Among them 
was Rev. Daniel Coker from Baltimore, or- 
dained pastor of a large colored congregation 
in that city, a pious, discreet, and humble 



64 CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 

man ; Nathaniel Peck, from ihe same city, 
was a very promising young mulatto man, by 
trade a miller, pious, and ardently desirous of 
doing good. 

The Society were obliged to refuse hun- 
dreds of IVee colored persons who were 
anxious to go in the Elizabeth. 

The day appointed for the embarkation of 
the emigrants ariived, and before the time for 
their departure came, nearly six thousand 
anxious spectators had collected and were 
pressing down to the ship, disaj)pointed at 
finding the doors of the church shut, where 
religious services were expected to have been 
attended. Mr. Bacon saw such crowds col- 
lecting, that he foresaw many lives would be 
sacrificed in the rush to enter the church, and 
had ordered the doors to be kept closed. He 
was soon aware timt equally disastrous conse- 
quences nmst follow at the banks of the river, 
if the concourse was not checked in its pro- 
gress. . He therefore ascended a piazza, and 
addressed the multitude, and commended them 
to God. He then descended into the street — 
gave orders for the secret embarkation of the 
colonists, returned to the populace who seem- 
ed fixed to the spot, till word came that all 
were on board the ship. Mr. Bacon then 
made the crowd acquainted with the fact, ex 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 65 

plaining his reasons for checking their farther 
progress towards the river, and douhtless pre- 
served mukilndes fVonia watery grave. It 
was with some difficMihy the ship got out to 
sea, owin2; to the ll)icl<ness of the ice in the 
North river. They did not fairly leave the 
river till February *6, 1820. 

Tile Elizabeth, Captain Sebor, sailed under 
convr)y of the Cvane sloop of war. 

The colonists had not been at sea many 
days, before they had a tremendous gale of 
wind. Mr. Bacon wrote to a friend, " We 
shipped nearly a hundred seas, some of which 
were very heavy. The binacle was washed 
off, and the compass broken. Sometimes 
the shi[) was before the wind ; sometimes she 
was rolling in the trough of the sea ; some- 
times they lo^t all command of her. xAhout 
dayTlighi the wind abated. These last thiee 
nights were awful ones indeed ; but in the 
midst of the dangers, when every sea seemed 
to be about to swallow us up^ and every blast 
of wind stronger than the last, — in the midst 
of all, 1 rejoiced in God and in the help of 
his countenance ; I could ask myself, whether 
there was another place in the universe I 
would prefer to be in that moment? and I 
desire to give glory to God, that I could say 
there was none. Duty had called me here; 
6 



06 CLALMS OF THE AFRICANS. 

God was with me ; and I was happy. A 
covenant God ; a triumphant Saviour; a holy 
Bible ; and a peaceful conscience, — all how 
precious ! " Two days after this distressing 
scene, they fell in with the wreck of a schoon- 
er from Boston, without a living soul on board. 
It is probable that all had perished. 

Some of the emigrants became unruly, and 
occasioned serious difficulty, and had it not 
been for the timely interference of Mv. Co- 
ker, serious consequences must have followed. 
Flis piety and good sense prompted him to 
lake such measures as were blessed to the 
reconciliation of the contending parlies. A 
day of fasting and prayer was observed by 
all the religious people on board, and before 
night the chief actor in the disturbance made 
an apology for his conduct, which was ac- 
cepted, and perfect harmony was restored. 
March 9th, the ship arrived at Sierra Leone, 
and anchored at Freetown. Several Aineri- 
can emigrants came on board soon after. 

Janette. What emigrants, Pa' .^ 

Mr. G. Some of those wlio were carried 
out by Captain Paul Cuffee, from Boston, sev- 
eral years before. They all made a very 
respectable appearance, and seemed happy, 
and in easy cifcumslances. 

A native African, from America, canie on 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 67 

bonrd just at evening, and was so overcome 
uiili joy at seeing several persons whom be had 
known there, that he shouted aloud and praised 
God. Mr. Coker was remembered by several 
colored persons in the English colony from 
Philadelphia, who told him, that they received 
the sacrament from his hands for the last time 
in America. The day after their arrival, Mr. 
Bacon and Mr. Coker took a walk toward 
evening, and visited the Kroomeii's village. 
Charles. Who are the Kroomen, Pa' .^ 
Mr. G. J\ren from Kroo, a district of coun- 
try near Cape Palmas, who are the laborers and 
watermen of the coast; there is nearly five hun- 
dred of them settled at Sierra Leone. They 
are remarkably tall, and well formed, and have 
open, intelligent countenances. They are often 
absent from their country several years ; seldom 
returning till they have acquired considerable 
property. It is not uncommon for the Kroo- 
men to go up and down the coast hundreds of 
miles, in their canoes, which are about fifteen 
feet long, in pursuit of employment. They 
are far more faithful and capable than any 
other native laborers. They never sell each 
other for slaves, neither do any other people, 
ever attempt to enslave them. Masters of ves- 
sels treat them with particular kindness, being, 
in some sense, dependent upon them for pro- 



68 CLAIMS OF THE AFRICAJNS. 

curing wood and water for their ships, and 
much of their iiitelliiience concerninii; tnide ; 
indeed, vviiliout iheir aid ihey would olien find 
it in)possihle to have their merchandize and 
slaves brought on board tiieir sliips, afier tl)ey 
were purchased. "^Jhese people do not wear 
any oilier clolliins; than a piece ofcolion cloth 
around ilieir waists, after the fashion of the 
Ceylonese. 

Mrs. G. If they have so much intercourse 
with Europeans, woidd it not be natural to 
expect they would have more liii;ht and 
knovvledi^e on relii^ious subjects than other 
nations ? 

Mr. G. They are so strongly attached to 
the customs and superstitions of their own 
coimtry, ihat hitherto all attempts to Ci)ristian- 
ize them have proved abortive. 

Jnnctte. How did those Kroomen appear, 
at Freetown, when Mr. Bacoti visited tliem .^^ 

Mr. G. They had all collected for a play. 
Some were shooting, others dancing, &tc. 
They expressed much pleasure at seeing the 
strangers, and many came forward to siiake 
hands, and invited them to drink some rum. 
Coker replied, " We no drinkey rum, God no 
likey dat," talking in the same broken way 
tliat the Kroomen did. Mr. Bacon in a letter 
speaking of the Kroomen said, '' The sickly 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. G9 

and (lepresserl countenance of a Philadelphia 
colored man, is not to he seen among lliem. 
A noble aspect, a dignified mien, a frank and 
open countenance, the entire demeanor of the 
wild man ! Sir, it is worth a voyage to Africa 
to see these Kroomen. 1 was present at one 
of their amusements, not mucli unlike your 
opera performances ; the speakers and actors 
were nearly a liundred. I su[)pose the play I 
saw, and those performed at Philadelphia, 
have, the one about as much religion as the 
other." Tiie agents had not seen the Cyane 
after the terrible gale, and many fears were 
entertained for her safety. 

Before Mr. Bacon left Sierra Leone he 
purchased a handsome schooner for the use 
of the colony. She had been engaged in the 
slave trade and captured by the English, and 
by them sold to Mr. Bacon, who sailed for 
Sherbro, and arrived at Campelar the 17th 
of March. Mr. Kizzell had not heard from 
America since the departure of ]Mr. Mills and 
Mr. Burgess, but he had erected a few huts, 
and a place for a store-house. He hod almost 
despaired of ever seeing colonists from Amer- 
ica, and when he met the agents he wept like 
a child, and the same evening took them to 
his little church for a season of prayer. About 
twenty natives, nearly naked, joined the wor- 
6* 



70 CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 

shippers, and were able to join in the tune, 
and some of the words of prnisp. Mr. Ba- 
con said, ^' Tills was an aiTeciing sceiie of 
devotion ! it was worth living an age to par- 
ticipate in it, with our feelings.'" 

Almost as soon as the schooner was un- 
loaded, and the settlers fixed in their new 
habitations, a boat was sent down from Sierra 
Leone with a request to Mr. Bacon to return 
with as little delay as possible, — the Cyane 
had arrived, and wished for his advice in re- 
lation to her employn)ent on the coast. He 
left Campelar on the 24th of March. Do 
you recollect Mr. George Caulker, the pro- 
prietor of the Plantain Islands, where Mr. 
Mills and Mr. Burgess visited him ? 

Children. Yes, Pa', I do ; and I ; and I 
too. 

Mr. G. Mr. Bacon called upon him, and 
was very much pleased with his appearance. 
Lieutenant Stiinghatn was with Mr. Bacon ; 
both were received with much courtesy ; they 
said his air and manners were like a Scottish 
chieftain. He wore a white robe and a fig- 
jired cambric turban ; his liouse was built in 
the native style, except one room in the cen- 
ter, which was finished in the European fash- 
ion. His establisha:ient exhibited marks of 
wealth, most of which he acquired by the 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICAlXa. 71 

barbarous traffic in slaves. After a visit of 
two days at Sierra [jeone, Mr. J3acon returned 
to Canij)elar, and hearinj^ that a hundred 
slaves in iions were near the residence of old 
king Sherbro, waiting for a hundred more to 
be brought in, the slave ship lying near the 
shore, he could hardly refrain himself or re- 
strain his people froui going to make an ef- 
fort to effect their deliverance. 

Charles. Why did not the Cyane take 
them ^ 

Mr. G. The Cyane was fully employed 
at another place. Before the tenth of April 
she had made ten captures ! all owned by 
Americans, but so completely covered with 
Spanish papers, that they could not be con- 
demned lawfully. However, four American 
vessels were sent in for trial, all of which were 
condemned. One of the officers of the Cy- 
ane said there were probably as many as 
three hundred vessels on the coast at that 
time, engaged in the slave trade, having two 
or three sets of papers each. 

Janette. How much misery the slave trade 
must have produced in Africa. I wish 1 
knew its origin. 

Mr. G. I cannot stay to tell you ; you 
must ask your mother to inform you. 



CHAPTER V 



Fleecy locks and black complexion 
Cannot forfeit nature's claim ; 

Skins may differ, but affection 

Dwells in black and white the same. 



MoTPiCR, do you know the beginning of 
slavery in ibis country ? said Cliarles, just as 
bis father left the I'oom. 

Mrs. G. I have been uM ibat the first 
slaves ever introduced inio the United Stales 
were brought in a Dutch man-of-war, and 
landed at Jamestown in Vii'ginia, in August, 
16^0, and there offered for sale. 

Janette. And has it continued froni that 
time, a period of two hundred and eleven 
years? Do tell me if England ever bad any 
iiand in it ? 

J^lrs. G. Yes, ever since the reign of 
queen Elizabeth, in 1562. 

Janette. How could she be a Christian, 
and encourage sue!) a wicked trade ? 

Mrs. G. She did not encorirage taking 
Africans by force and selh'ng them for slaves, 
for when captain Hawkins returned from Af- 



CLAIiMS OF THE AFRICANS. 73 

rica with tlie first cargo of slaves, she sent for 
him, and ch;ir2;e(i him not to hriiig one person 
without tlieir in'.e consent, adding, "it would 
be d(nestab!e, and call down ihe vengeance of 
Heaven upon the undertakers." When he 
went to Africa the second time, he promised to 
follow her directions, but no sooner had he 
reached that injured land than he seized many 
of the inhal)itunts, cruelly (bagged lljem to 
his ship, and carried them wliere he could sell 
them for slaves. From that time I never 
heard anything nmre about the queen's scru- 
ples, and England has continued to plunge as 
deej)ly in that revolting and impious trade as 
any other nation in the world. 

Charles. How were liiey disposed of .^ 

Mrs. G. Hawkins carried his first cargo 
to the island of Hayti. Muhltudes were car- 
ried to all the West India islands, and sold to 
the planters. 

Clara. Was that wicked captain the first 
who ever traded in slaves.^ 

Mrs. G. No, I do not suppose he was, for 
we read of the existence of slavery in very 
remote ages ; but in more modern times, I do 
not recollect ever reading of buying; and sell- 
ing people earlier tiian 1503. Th.at year 
some of the Portuguese settlers in Africa sent 
a few slaves to the Spanish colonies in Amer- 



74 CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 

ica. Eight years afterwards Ferdinand the 
fifth, king of Spain, permitted large numbers 
to be carried thither. 

Janette. In what part of Africa did they 
procure slaves ? 

Mrs. G. The slave trade commenced at 
the river Senegal, and continued to wind 
around the coast a distance of more than 
three thousand miles, penetrating the interior 
so far, that some of the poor slaves said they 
had to ti'avel many moons, before they reach- 
ed the coast. Slaves were first regularly im- 
ported into Genoa in 1517, by permission of 
Charles of Austria. He allowed armed ves- 
sels to make a descent upon the coast of 
Africa, and by force of arms carry off the 
natives, who were so terribly, alarmed, that 
they fled into the thick forests of the interior, 
where they were followed by the criminal 
traders, wlio by fraud and flattery, induced 
ihem to sell their convicts and prisoners of 
war. These were paid for in toys, and such 
finery as had the most power to please. The 
subtle traders soon found, that the natives 
were not insensible (o the workings of avarice, 
and when this hateful passion was powerfully 
excited, wars were multiplied among them- 
selves under the most trifling pretexts. jMul- 
titudes of prisoners were taken of every rank, 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 75 

and sold indiscriminately to those who would 
pay the most for tliem. Kidnapping took the 
place of bloody wars, and such scenes of 
treachery and cruelty followed, as would make 
your hearts bleed lo hear described. Nobody 
was safe, for the natives had acquired such a 
-passion for rum., tobacco, beads, and other 
articles introduced by the slave traders, that 
they stole people while fishing in the-, rivers, or 
working in their rice and cassada fields, to pay 
for then]. Little children were picked up 
whenever found, and sold for trifling sums, 
and notwithstanding their bitter cries, were 
carried on board the slave ship, never more 
to behold the face of kindred or friend. 

Thus, in a few years, avarice and self-in- 
terest prom})ted merchants, planters, manu- 
facturers, and even politicians and legislators, 
to connive at this monstrous and desiradins: 
traffic, until it was carried on with tlje most 
astonishing activity, and immense fortunes were 
acfjuired in a sliort time. 

At length these cruel monsters grew so 
bold, they diil not fear molestation, for almost 
every nation in tlie civilized world were en- 
gaged in it ; and slave factories were estab- 
lished, in various places, the whole length of 
the coast. 



76 CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 

Janeite. Mother, what are factories ? 

Airs. G. Trading houses where merclian- 
dize in Inrge qnantilies is kept for sale. ,The 
poor shives were received by the factors, at 
the establishments where they were bought, 
and kept in good condition till slavers came 
to purchase cargoes. If the poor creatures 
were wounded in being taken, or worn down 
with hui^ne and cruel treatment, at these hc~ 
tories they woukl be fed, bathed and anointed 
with a peculiar preparation of oil, wliich so 
improved their appearance, that they sold for 
much larger sums than they would i)ave done 
when fiist brought in from the interior. 

Janette. O mother, I did not know till 
now one half of the horrors of slavery. 

Mrs. G. My child, you know compara- 
tively little, if anything of it now. 

Janette. How many of those uniiappy be- 
ings are torn from their couiitry in a year ? 

Mrs. G. I do not know' exactly ; but from 
1786 to 1822, a period of thirty-six years, I 
have been informed that more than a million 
and a half hnd been drnwn from western 
Africa. And how mnny hopes have been 
buried, and hearts broken b) their removal, is 
known only to Him whose eye beholds at a 
glance all that is done in every land. 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 77 

Clara. Mother, I wish yon would tell us 
what became of ]\Ir. Bacou, and the people 
he took out to Sheibro. 

JS'lrs. G. TJje ship which carried them to 
Africa, retiu'ned before Mr. Bacon had pur- 
chased land for a colony. Y^y i)er, many of 
the colonists wrote to their friends the most 
cheering accounts. In one of Mr. Coker's 
letters, he said, "We find the land good, and 
the natives kind, only those, who, t^om inter- 
course with the slave-traders, become other- 
wise. Here are thousai'.ds and thousands of 
souls to be converted from paganism and Mo- 
hammedanism to the religion of Jesus. Oh ! 
brethren, who will come over to the help of 
tlie Lord? 1 have just returned from visiting 
one of the kings, with the agent. Oh ! my 
brother, and sister, I have seen and passed 
through strange things since I last saw you ; 
what darkness has covered the mitids of this 
people. None but those wlio come and see, 
can judge. You would be astonished to see 
me travelling in the wildertjess, guided by a 
little foot path, until, coming suddenly upon a 
little town of huts in the thickets ; and there 
to behold hundreds of men, women and chil- 
dren, naked, sitting on the ground or on mats, 
living on the natural productions of the earth, 
all as ignorant of God as the brutes that per- 



7^ CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 

ish. You would see them coming round to 
shake hands with me, (but very different from 
our way of s'aaking hands,) and gazing on me, 
and spreading a mat, and offering me snch 
food as they live upon. Such is their 00^1- 
(hict, that any one wlio ]o\'es souls would weep 
over ihetn, and be willing to suffer and die 
with them. If you ask my opinion as to 
coming out; I say, let all that can, sell out 
and come ; come, and bring ventures to trade 
with, and you may do much better than you 
can possibly do in America, and not work 
half so hard. Peck is well and sends his 
love. I am in great haste. The Lord bless 
you and your dear family. Farewell. 

D. COKER." 

Janette. I suppose it was the same Peck 
that Pa' told us was a miller ; did not he 
write to his friends ? 

Mrs. G. Yes, h.e wrote to his mother : "I 
am now treading the soil of my mother coun- 
try — thanks be to God ! and find that it is 
good ; every thing that heart can wish. The 
climate is very mild and good. The Lord is 
with us 5 and has done great things for us. 
]Vir. Kizzell had twelve houses built for us be- 
fore we arrived. 1 have had the pleasure of 
seeing the king of Sherbro ; he and his peo- 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 79 

pie received us witli much joy. We gave 
him a salute with the cannon, as is the custom 
here. We also saw a vessel, with one hun- 
dred slaves. We expect to lake them when 
our schooner is done unloading liie ship. 
Land, the kings say, we must and shall have; 
everything is encouraging — we liave nothing 
to fear, for Africa is our liome. 1 am now 
President of a Sunday school society. The 
native children receive instruction very easy. 
I am also a contractor for the colony — and 
brother Coker a Justice of the Peace. So 
you see we are to govern ourselves as well as 
we are ahle. Wonderful scenes 1 have seen 
since I left home, but time will not admit of 
my writing more. Give my love to my dear 
sisters, the children, and all my dear friends. 
Ask them to pray for us — for ' the harvest is 
plenteous, and the laborers few.' 

Nathaniel Peck." 

Mr. Kizzell wrote a long letter to a colored 
man of wealth and influence. I will give you 
an extract, which 1 copied on the same sheet 
with Coker's i^nd Peck's letter. 

Charles. JMoilier, do read it. 

Mrs. G. (Reads.) " I have received the 
brethren of the mission. I am glad to see 
them, and will do ail i can for them. 1 thank 



so CLAIMS OF THE AFRICAINS. 

God that they have come. The Rev. D. 
Coker is a fine man ; and Mr. Peck also. I 
pray God to make them useful. Were not 
your fathers carried slaves from this country 
to America .^ When that country was discov- 
ered was there a black family there ? God 
has blessed you to make a man of you. I 
woidd ask you, when Jacob went into Egypt, 
were not their number seventy-five ? How 
many came out of Egypt? Were tiiere not 
six liundred thousand men, besides w^omen 
and children ? The Israelites were three 
htmdred and forty years from Canaan to their 
return : are we not the same ? I never heard 
that the Lord said, blessed is he that preach- 
es ; but the blessing is on tiie man that doth 
his will." 

Charles. Why, mother, is it not very 
strange that the free people of color do not 
all remove to Africa f 

Jllrs. G. Large numbers would be glad to 
go, my son, if ihcy had an opportunity and the 
means of defraying the expense. 

Jaiiette. How much would a passage cost ? 

Mrs. G. Somewhere between twenty and 
thirty dolkus. This small sum miglit soon be 
earned by a great many of tlie sober and in- 
dustrious, and no other colonists are wanted ; 
but in the fiist years of the society's existence, 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. Ql 

evil disposed or ignorant people misrepresented 
the design of it, and discouraged the colored 
men from making npplications for a passage, 
when a vessel was filling out. 

Clara. Was any one compelled to go, 
mother ? 

Mrs. G. No, the object of the society 
was to provide a good situation on the coast 
of Africa, for such free colored persons as 
might clioose to go and settle there ; and for 
such slaves as their owners were pleased to 
emancipate, (make free) ; and the funds they 
procure are appropriated to defray the ex- 
penses of those who wish to go, but cannot 
raise tlje sum necess;iry. I do not see what 
inducement they can have lo remain in this 
• country, for they can never rise here to the 
level of white men. VVhei'eas, if they would 
go to the land of their fathers, they would 
soon be elevated to posts of honor and trust, 
if tliey were moral and educated, perhaps as 
suddenly as Mr. Coker and ]\lr. Peck. The 
numbers are daily increasing of such as wish 
lo go, with a view to benefit the native inhab- 
itants, by instructing them in morals and reli- 
gion, and ail the arts of civilized life. 

Some of the most intelligent and enterpris- 
ing of this class were very anxious to find 

some spot on the globe where their complex- 
ly ^ 



S2 CLAIMS OV THE AFRICANS. 

ion would be no obstacle in their j)'jrsiiit of 
happiness and a state of political indepen- 
dence, years before the formation of the Col- 
onization S()ciety. In die town of New- 
port, in Rhode island, several colored men- 
of property subscribed a cotisiderable smn, 
and deputed three of th-Mr number to go to Af- 
rica, and see if a good place might not be 
purchased ; and there is no doubt they would 
iiave formed a settlement, had not tiie dishon- 
eslv of their agents defeated the object. 

We have made a lo.ng digression, yMid will 
return to the agL-nls and colonists, whom we 
left at Camj)elar. It was the design of the 
society, if it were found practicable, to pur- 
chase the territory described by Mr. Mills and 
Mr. Burgess, on the Bagroo river ; and it!i- 
inediately after the Elizabeth sailed, iMr. Ba- 
con, with Mr. Kizzell, visited king Farro, and 
took measures to iiold a palaver at an early 
day. Their .s^uide pointed out to them the 
greegrccs, cautioning them to beware of going 
near thcfu, unless they were willing to catch 
various distempers. 

Clara. ¥lc.\hey, what were they .^ 

J\Irs. G. The wovd grcegrees seems to have 

several significations, such as evil spirits, an 

amulet or cliarnj, — \he greegree men were a 

kind o{ ])roj)hets or conjurers. Mr. Bacon 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 83 

was delighted wiili the fertility of tiie soil and 
the rich fruits which every vvliere grew in great 
profusion. In this tour he gathered anornne;e 
which njeasured fifteen inches in circnml'e- 
rence. Soon after his return, the fever of 
the country attacked one after another until 
the seventh of Aj)ril, at which lime no less 
than iwenty-five were .^ick, and Dr. Crozer 
ahsent. The next day the doctor and Mr. 
Hankson returned to Campelar, hoth very ill. 
Mr. Bacon wrote in his jejunal of the eighth, 
" Wherever 1 move, I meet with little besides 
groans and tears. The fever is bilious, at- 
tended will) (lelirium. Many of the sick ob- 
stinately refuse to lake medicines : some de- 
claring they will sooner die than submit to do 
it." Again lie wrote, " There are eight en- 
tire families sick ; amongst whom there is not 
one able to d-ess his own food, or wait upon a 
child. Oh God, who can lieli) but ihou ! I 
counted the cost of engaging in this service 
before I left America. I came to lliese shores 
to die: and any thing better than death is bet- 
ter than 1 expect." He labored incessantly 
\:i the sun and damp, whenever not occupied 
in administering to the temporal and spiritual 
wants of the people under his chai-ge. He 
said, *' I go without stockings, often without 
shoes, scarcely wear a hat, and am generally 



54 CLALMS OF THE AFRICANS. 

without a coat ; I am up early, and not ia 
bed until ten or eleven o'clock. I eat little, 
and seldom use any other refreshments except 
hard ship-bread, salt meat and water. 1 labor 
more, am more exposed to heat, and wet, 
and damp, and hunger, and thirst, than any 
one : and yet, blessed be God. I continue in 
health, and have peace within.*' When two 
had died, and several new cases had occurred 
the same day, he wrote, " There are only six 
or eisht of the people in heahh — and the sick 
cannot be properly taken care of. I am still 
well and enjoy the supreme protection and fa- 
vor of God." Anoilier person died on the 
fourteenth, and Dr. Crozer was so ill that his 
death seemed very near. ^Jr. Townsend, a 
young midshipman, died on that night, and 
Dr. Crozer about one o'clock on the sixteenth. 
Mr. Bacon was engaged in prayer by his side 
when he breathed his last. Tne evening af- 
ter his interment, Mr. Bacon felt somewhat in- 
disposed, went into a warm bath, took such 
medicines as he thought his case required, 
and carefully abstained from swallowing much 
water. It was supposed that loo copious 
draughts injured, if it did not carry off Mr. 
Townsend, Dr. Crozer, and others. But his 
days were fast drawing to a close. In the 
contemplation of his own death heaven with 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. §5 

all iis glories was in joyfiil prospect for the 
portion of his own soul, yet his heart was in 
anguish for the poor sufferers around him, and 
for the final success of the mission. The day 
preceding his death he sat up and conversed 
a little. The cause of Africa was dear to his 
heart, and he expressed a strong interest for 
her welfare to the last. " The last effort of 
jeason and speech, took place about eleven 
o'clock on the evening of the first of May. 
The languid current of life ebbed gradually 
away, until half past four, on llie following 
morning, wlien lie expired." 3Ir. Bankson 
had been very sick, but appeared to be rap- 
idly recovering for several days, when he sud- 
denly relapsed and died, without one earthly 
friend to smooth the pillow of death, or wipe 
the cold dews from his brow. 

!Mr. Bankson was one of the most devoted 
Sunday school l-eachers in this country, and 
was actively engaged in ilie formation of the 
first in the city of Philadelphia. On his pas- 
sage to Airica he had one set up on board 
the ship, w'lich was well attended ; and the 
first Sabbath he spent in Africa he was sur- 
lounded by a large class of those he brought 
wiih him, and nearly twenty of the native 
cliildren, whom he had collected. He was a 
most amiable n)an^ and a devoted Christian. 



86 CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 

Charles. The African colony had a very 
melancholy be2;inning, mother. 

J\lrs. G. True, my son, but not so much 
so as the Plymoutl) colony, in New England. 

Janette. Mother, do you know what Mr. 
BaccMi was before he was an agent? 

J\Irs. G. He was an Episcopahan minister 
a short time before he left this country, but 
for many years previous he had been a lawyer. 

Clara. Pa' told us about Mr. Mills's life, 
mother, and will you not tell us as much 
about Mr. Bacon's.^ 

Mrs. G. Mr. Bacon was born at Stur- 
bridge, in Massachusetts, on the 22d of July, 
1781. His mother was a Christian of no or- 
dinary attainments, though humble and retir- 
ing ; she strove to impress the mind of her 
soil with the solemn realities of religion, and 
often told hirn she wished him to be like Sam- 
uel of ( Id. She lingered several years in a 
consumption, and died when Samuel was ten 
years old ; after this bereavement he had some 
serious impressions, which were soon effaced. 
These were repeated from time to time, and 
as often vanished like the morning cloud. He 
lived and toiled upon his father's farm until 
more than twenty years of age ; he then pre- 
pared for college at Leicester academy, en- 
tered the university at Cambridge, and pur- 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 87 

sued his studies with so much eagerness, and 
made such exertions during the vacations to 
procure money to defray his expenses, that at 
the close of his college course his health was 
in a very critical stale. He however com- 
menced the study of law at Worcester, and 
for a short season conducted a weekly news- 
paper ; hut in consequence of his feeble 
Ijealth, he was advised to seek a milder cli- 
mate, and he spent some time in Philadelphia, 
Lancaster, and Carlisle. He was induced to 
open a school at Lancaster, with five pupils, 
which at the end of about two years numbered 
one hundred and fifty. Although infidel in 
his own sentiments, yet from a conviction of 
then' utility, he enforced the precepts of Chris- 
tianity upon the niinds of his scholars. In 
1812, Mr. Bacon was invited to take charge 
of a literary institution in York, which he had 
about concluded to accept, when he was sur- 
prised by the arrival of a commission from 
the navy department at Washington. His en- 
thusiastic turn of mind was well suited to a 
military life. But he had not been in his new 
situation long before some little difficulty be- 
tween himself and another officer terminated 
in a duel, thus proving to the world that nei- 
ther of them were religious, brave, or honora- 
ble. Mr. Bacon received a severe wound in 



88 CLAIMS OF THE AFRICAPs'S. 

the thigh, which disabled him some lime from 
active duties. This duel was a subject o( 



vin 



deep abhorrence and repentance to his d 
day, for though he did not murder his antas^o- 
nist, yet he felt, and acknowledged, that duel- 
ling is murder, whether attended by fatal con- 
sequences, or not. Two years after receiving 
his commission, he married Miss Anna Mary 
Barnitz of York, Pennsylvania. He became 
deeply interested in the happiness of his ami- 
able and interesting companion, and said, he 
was almost compelled to prcnj, which practice 
he was ever after seldom known to omit. 
With her he read the Holy Scriptures, and 
his views gradually changed, though he re- 
mained still far from God. On the birth of 
his son in March, 1815, he was almost over- 
whelmed with a sense of the unmerited good- 
ness of God, and under the weight of obliga- 
tion laid upon him by this gift, he resolved 
upon leading a more strictly religious life. 
During his military career he had found lime 
to resume the stuily of law, and was admitted 
to the bar before the birth of his little boy ; 
and soon after that event he removed to Yoik 
and opened an office, and became more anx- 
ious for wealth and fame than to |)iease God. 
His religious resolutions vveie soon broken, 
and in the midst of his worldly plans his be- 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 89 

loved wife, who was truly pious, was attacked 
witli nervous fever, and her almost distracted 
hjsband was called to witness her dying strug- 
gles and bid her a last farewell. 

He resigned his conimiirsion, and devoted 
himself to the practice of law, but the world 
had lost its power to charm, though he still 
sought and obtained many marks of public 
regard. Nothing, however, could give him 
that peace of mind for which his heart pant- 
ed. In 1S16 he visited the place of his na- 
tivity, and witnessed such changes produced 
by the power of divine grace, especially in 
his aged father, that he could not remain in- 
sensible. He returned home, passed tlirough 
a long and distressing season of conviction, 
and at last was enabled to cast hi[nself upon 
Christ as a willing and almighty Saviour. He 
united with the church in May, 1817. From 
t'jat time he was always ready for every good 
word and woik. His natural fondness for 
-children led him to make unweaiied efforts to 
gather them in Sabbath and other schools. A 
Sabbath school society was formed by his ex- 
ertions, and the whole county enlisted in the 
good cause. In a little more tiian a year af- 
ter he united with the church, he had thirty- 
six schools, containing twelve hundred schol- 
ars and more than two hundred teachers. 
8 



90 CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 

Some of these schools were twenty-five miles 
from his house, yet he visited ihem constantly, 
and by his advice and exhortations encouraged 
all to persevere. He was diligent in business, 
fervent in spirit, serving the Lord. He used 
to set out on Saturday, and return on Mon- 
day. O if all the lawyers in this coimtry 
should take such a decided stand for God 
and religion as Mr. Bacon did after his con- 
version, the state of society would be vastly 
improved ; and if the pious emigrants to the 
west should walk in his steps, how many 
sinners, recovered to God through the instru- 
mentality of their labors in Sabbath schools, 
would rise up and call them blessed. 

Janette. How many of the colonists who 
went out with hitn died ? 

J[lr, G, Nineteen or twenty. The nego- 
tiation that was pending when the agents were 
taken sick, entirely failed in consequence of 
the treachery and duplicity of the Sherbro 
chiefs. 

Charles. Was that the end of the colony? 

Mrs. G. No, my son. The friends of 
the society were so highly animated by the 
letters and accounts brought them by the Eliz- 
abeth, that they engaged in preparing another 
company with the greatest zeal imaginable ; 
money, books, furniture, tools and clothing 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 91 

were contributed with great liberality ; the 
brig Nautilus was chartered, and nearly thirty 
efFeclive laborers were among the emigrants 
who were accepted. Just before the brig 
was ready to sail, the melancholy tidings of 
the calamity which had befallen the first com- 
pany reached our shores, and the government 
immediately appointed J. B. Winn, Esquire, 
agent, to reside on the coast of Africa, and 
an assistant agent. The society elected the 
Rev. Mr. Andrus and Mr. C. Wihberger to 
accompany the emigrants. They were in- 
structed to land them at Sierra Leone, where 
they were to remain until a tract of land was 
purchased, and some preparations made for the 
reception of the women and children. The 
Nautilus arrived at Sierra Leone on the 9th of 
March, 1821, and the settlers were immedi- 
ately placed under the protection of the colo- 
nial government. The agents took a lease of 
a fine plantation at Foura Bay, in the vicinity 
of Freetown, where the emigrants found com- 
fortable accommodations .and constant em- 
ployment. By this arrangement the agents 
were relieved from a great burden of care, 
and left at liberty to explore the coast, and 
purchase a territory at their leisure. They 
were extremely cautious, and were soon satis- 
fied that no dependance could be put upon 



92 CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 

the veracity or integrity of the petty kings. 
After gaining correct information concerning 
the Bagroo country and visiting the coast far- 
ther soLilh, ihey were convinced that other sit- 
uations presented greater advantages, even 
had tliere been no difficulties in the way of 
procuring the Bagroo country. 

The cliiefs of the Grand Bassa nation were 
wilhng to sell land, but would not consent to 
renounce the traffic in slaves, which prevented 
the ratification of the contract for a settlement 
in their country. This nation is nearly three 
hundred miles south of Sierra Leone. Dis- 
appointed in their expectations of obtaining a 
settlement, the agents concluded to wait at the 
English colony for further instructions from 
the Board of Managers. One of the agents 
with his wife were attacked with the coast fe- 
ver, and were so much reduced that it was 
thought best they should return to the United 
States, where iliey arrived safely in August. 

The Board lost no time in appointing an 
agent, after they heard of the embarrassed 
situation of those already in Africa. Dr. Eli 
Ayres sailed in July, 1821, in (he schooner 
Shaik, under the command of Lieutenant 
Perry. Soon after the agents ai'rived at Si- 
erra Leone from their visit to the Bassa coun- 
try, the Rev. Mr. Andrus was taken sick of 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 93 

fever, and after a short illness died on the 
twenty-seventh of July. Mr. Winn sunk un- 
der the same disease, and died on the twenty- 
fifth of August, and Mrs. Winn followed him 
down to the grave on the thirty-first of the 
same month. 

Janette. Was not the society discouraged 
when they heard of these fresh calamities ^ 

Mrs. G. The Managers felt grieved, and 
all the friends of the cause mourned the loss 
of persons so devoted and disinterested, but 
they were not so much disheartened as to re- 
lax these efforts to accomplish the object for 
which the society was formed. They were 
constrained to bless the Lord for his special 
goodness in turning the heart of Dr. Ayres to 
this service just at the time a man of medical 
skill was so much needed. He possessed 
other qualifications which eminently fitted him 
for the station. 

Here the little party were interrupted by 
the arrival of the stage coach, and the next 
moment Mrs. Granville received into her arms 
her beloved sister Caroline. 



8 



CHAPTER VI. 

Oh Afiic ! what has been thy crime 
That thus hke Eden's fratricide, 

A mark is set upon thy chuie, 

And every brother shuns thy side. 

The next day Mr. Granville received 
another visit from his children at the office, 
who told him tlieir mother had carried for- 
ward the history of the society to the lime of 
Dr. Ayres's departure for Africa — that she 
and their aunt Caroline had gone to ride, and 
had given them leave to spend an hour with 
their father, if their company would be agree- 
able to him. Clara added, " Mother has pro- 
mised to relate more when she returns, and 
aunt Caroline says she will tell us about Si- 
erra Leone this evening." 

Mr. G. The arrival of Dr. Ayres in Af- 
rica was hailed with joy by the settlers, who 
had never had the regular attendance of a 
physician in all their sickness. After a short 
stay at Foura Bay, (Sierra Leone,) he put all 
the colonists and iheir affairs under the care 
of Mr. Wiltberger, and acconipanied by Lieu- 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 95 

tenant Stockton, of the LTnited States schoo- 
ner Alligator, sailed down the coast on the 
6th of December, 132 1, in the schooner Au- 
gusta. They anchored in Messurado Bay 
on the eleventh, and finding the appearance 
of the country answer the descrijjtion which 
had been given of it, tliey determined to land 
and attempt a negotiation. 

After many difficulties they succeeded in 
obtaining an interview with king Peter. They 
were obliged to wait for an introduction some 
time, in the shed of a Krooman, siu'rounded 
by a throng of natives, the most of whom had 
knives hanging from their girdles, and about 
half a dozen were armed with muskets. Dr. 
Ayres felt rather unpleasantly, and watched 
the countenance of Lieutenant Stockton pretty 
narrowly. He was soon convinced that the 
Lieutenant was a stranger to fear, and not long; 
afterwards he felt assured that the natives had 
no hostile intentions. His majesty approached, 
attended by a servant, who held an umbrella 
over him ; he was soon seated, and the agent 
stated his object in coming, but the palaver 
broke up without making any contract. Two 
days afterwards they went again to meet the 
king, according to appointment, but he was 
not to be seen. Cape Messurado was the 



96 CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 

spot they had selected, and they were resolved 
to persevere till it was obtained. This beau- 
tiful spot had been an object of desire to the 
Frencli and English for more tlian a hundred 
years, but all their efforts to get possession of 
it had proved abortive. At last the parties 
met, and {he palaver lasted three hours, with- 
out coming to a decision. On the fourteenth 
they went on shore, and with considerable au- 
thority sent for the king, who sent back word 
that he would neither come nor sell them any 
land. One of two things must be done im- 
mediately, either to take their lives in their 
hands, and go to king Pater's town, or give 
up the purchase, as had been the case with 
all vvho had gone before them. They re- 
solved upon the former, and with a Krooman 
for their guide they set out, and followed him 
through dismal swamps, wading through water 
or wallowing in mud, six or seven miles into 
the interior. 

At length they reached the town where the 
king resided, and w^ere shown into \he pala- 
ver hall, where they waited a full hour for his 
majesty to dress ; the prime minister shook 
hands with them, but looked very grave, and 
none of the attendants appeared pleased. 
For a considerable time after the king en- 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 97 

gaged in conversation, there seemed no pros- 
pect of bringing the business to a close. 
However, at the end of two days' negotiation, 
a contract for Cape Messurado, and the isl- 
and at the month of the Messurado river, was 
signed, sealed, and delivered. The deeds 
were signed by the kings Peter, George, Zoda, 
Long Peter, and their princes and headmen, 
all of whom were joint owners. Dr. Ay res 
and Lieutenant Stockton signed the paper in 
behalf of their employers, and agreed to pay 
the quantity of goods which had been speci- 
fied by the kings. Both parties pledged them- 
selves to live in peace and friendship forever. 
When the whole business was completed, Dr. 
Ayres wrote to the Board of Managers, — " I 
consider the contract not only as a triumph 
over savage prejudice, but over European ne- 
gotiation. For this you are entirely indebted 
to the energy, sagacity, and perseverence of 
Lieutenant Stockton." In describing Cape 
Messurado he observed, " It has the best 
harbor between Gibraltar and the Cape of 
Good Hope." To keep in remembrance the 
long continued and perplexing palavers before 
they ' obtained possession of the Cape, they 
named the island at the mouth of the Messu- 
rado river, Perseverance. 



98 CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 

Charles. Pa', is Cape Messurado like Cape 
Cod, and Cape Ann? 

Mr. G. No, my son, it is a promontory 
which extends tibotit three miles into the sea, 
forming a fine bay on the north side, where 
vessels may lie near the shore in water sixty 
feet deep. At the time it was purchased it 
was covered with a heavy growth of forest 
trees, standing close together, and perfectly 
covered with wild vines, the stalks as large as 
cables, wliich made it almost or quite impen- 
etrable. 

Charles. Hew could such land ever be 
cleared, Pa' ? 

Mr. G. It cost much labor, but it was 
done more expeditiously than you would sup- 
pose ; they had to cut the trunks of nearly a 
dozen trees almost off before they could fell 
one ; but when they began to go, they made 
crashing work. It did not cost more than five 
or six dollars to clear an acre. 

Janette. How long is the Messurado river ? 

Mr. G. About three hundred miles in 
length. It rises near the head waters of the 
Gambia, and Niger. 

Charles. Did the emigrants take posses- 
sion of the Cape immediately after the pur- 
chase ^ 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 99 

Mr. G, The first day of January, 1822, 
was appointed for the colonists to remove 
from Fonra Bay to Cape Messurado, and or- 
ders were issued for all to be in readiness. 
The news of a speedy departure to their fu- 
ture home was received with joy by most ; 
a few, however, had formed such strong at- 
tachments at their temporary residence, that 
they felt unwilling to leave, and four persons 
were allowed to remain. 

When the kings actually saw the colonists 
taking possession of the Cape, they loaded 
king Peter with reproaches, and threatened 
his life, for taking the lead in selling the terri- 
tory for a colony. They even went so far as 
to pass a decree that the colonists should be 
driven away from the coast. 

Janette. What, after their solemn promise 
never to molest or disturb them ? 

Mr. G. Yes, you cannot conceive the du- 
plicity and treachery of the natives, at the 
lime the colony was first established. 

Clara. How could Dr. Ayres get along 
with them ^ 

Mr. G. He paid very little attention to 
the contradictory rumors that were floating 
about, and ordered the vessel to be unloaded, 
and measures taken to erect houses ; but he 
soon found another interview with the kings 



100 CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 

indispensable. During the palaver, his firm- 
ness, energy and decision checked the oppo- 
sition, and to all human appearance peace was 
restored. But in a few weeks a spirit of hos- 
tility had become as apparent as ever. A 
British prize slave ship had called at the Cape 
to take in water ; the captain and one of the 
kings quarrelled. The captain's ship parted 
her cable and was thrown on shore. At the 
same time a French slaver was waitins; for 
the remainder of her cargo of slaves, which 
encouraged the natives to attack tlie English 
prize for the sake of plunder. The colonists 
volunteered in the defence of the prize, and 
in the contest two natives were killed, and the 
next day a British sailor, and one of the col- 
onists. To increase tlie calamity, an English 
sailor carelessly discharged a cannon so near 
the store-house of the colony that it took fire, 
and tlie provision, clothing, and most of tlie 
utensils for farming and cooking were de- 
stroyed. 

The natives were by this time fidly aware 
of the influence wliich the colony would ex- 
ert upon the slave-trade, if they were al- 
lowed to remain, and they meditated their 
speedy destruction. 

Kin2: Georiie's warriors did not exceed 
twenty, but the death of two of their number 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. IQl 

exasperated the remainder, and they sought 
every opportunity to make a quarrel by offer- 
ing insults. In the midst of all this confusion 
a grand palaver was assembled. There were 
seventeen kings and thirty-two half kings 
present on this memorable occasion. Dr. 
Ayres presented himself before them in an in- 
dependent manner, told them he had pur- 
chased and paid for the land, and that he 
should retain it : if they attempted to expel 
him or his people he would soon show them 
" what fighting was : — he would bring ships, 
and batter down every town that opposed him, 
from Cape Mount to the Line." Two of the 
kings were decided friends of the colony. 
Boatswain was the most powerful, and he 
shook his sides with laughter at the threats of 
Dr. Ayres. The kings sliowed great uneasi- 
ness, and it was increased by Boatswain, who 
sent out one of his men to circulate that four 
large ships were then coming into the Ijarbor. 
This filled the hearts of the great men with 
such fear and consternation^ that it was diffi- 
cult to keep them together long enougi) to fin- 
ish the business. 

Charles. Pa', who was Boatswain ? 

J\Tr. G. He was a native of Sherbro, and 
king of^the Condo tribe ; having served on 
board an English sliip a short time, be had 

y 



102 CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 

acquired a little knowledge of the English 
language, and received his name. He was 
nearly seven feet high, and finely proportioned ; 
the expression of his countenance was noble 
and prepossessing, and his mind corresponded 
with the lofiiness of his figure. His generos- 
ity was unbounded, and his power was felt by 
all the neighboring tribes. After the difficul- 
ties were once more adjusted, the chiefs still 
threw out that poor old king Peter was a trai- 
tor, and he felt that his life was in jeopardy. 
In this critical juncture he appealed to Boat- 
swain, who soon made his appearance at the 
Cape, " not to pronounce sentence," he said, 
" between the coast people and the strangers, 
but to do justice.'''' He brought a sufficient 
force with him to convince all parties that 
whatever he planned, he had power to exe- 
cute. He said to the agents, " 1 promise you 
my protection. If these people give you any 
further trouble, send for me. And I promise, 
if they oblige me to come again to quiet them, 
I will do it to purpose by taking their heads 
from their shoulders." He promised protec- 
tion to king Peter. 

Charles. I do not wonder such a man was 
feared, Pa' , I should think the emigrants 
would have been afraid of him too. 

Mr. G. No, they were not at all afraid : 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 103 

he understood his own interest too well to 
make the English or Americans his enemies. 

After this last settlement with the natives, 
the American flag was hoisted on the Cape, 
and formal possession taken on the twenty- 
fifth of April, 1821. 

Janette. Pa', how did the people get along 
after their store-house and so much of its con- 
tents were consumed ? 

J[lr. G. They were in such distressing cir- 
cumstances that Dr. Ayres thought it best for 
them to go back again to Sierra Leone, while 
he should return to the United States and pro- 
cure a fresh supply. 

Charles. Did they go, Pa' ? 

Mr. G. I will tell you what the circum- 
stances of the colony were at the time, that 
you may admire the goodness of God, and 
the heroic fortitude of the little band that con- 
cluded to remain, after the agents' proposal to 
leave the Cape. The rains were setting in — 
tornadoes were frequent — every house was 
nearly roofless — sickness was increasing — both 



mon 



Dr. Ayres and Mr. Wiltberger were a 
the invalids; yet in view of all these disheart- 
ening prospects twenty-one of these brave 
men remained, after both agents and some of 
the colonists had left them. 



104 ' CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 

Charles. Who was at the head of affairs in 
the absence of tlie agents ? 

M7\ G. Mr. Elijah Johnston, who went 
from the city of New York in 1820. He was 
a most valuable man, and highly respected by 
all the colonists and agents. 

Janette. How much money was the prop- 
erty worth that was burnt .^ 

Mr. G. It was estimated at three thousand 
dollars. Flad it not been for Ba Caia, the 
chieftain of Perseverance island, who supplied 
the colonists with provisions, I know not but 
they must have nearly perished ; for no sooner 
had the agents sailed for the United States, 
and Boatswain departed into the interior, than 
the treacherous natives forbade their furnish- 
ing the colonists with supplies, and immedi- 
ately began to resume the attitude of hostility. 

Janette. How very dark and gloomy their 
prospects must have been : 1 do not see where 
they could look for help. 

J\lr. G. They looked^ to Him who alone 
can save to the uttermost, and he honored 
their faith in his promises. But tlie trials en- 
dured by these houseless sufferers will never 
be known by any who did not participate in 
them. 

Clara. What tribes lived in the neighbor- 
hood of the Cape ? 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 105 

Mr. G. The Deys lived about lliirty miles 
north of them ; the Queahs, a quiet people, 
on the east; the Gnrrahs lived on the river 
St. Paul's, and beyond them the Condoes, or 
Boatswain's people. The whole country was 
broken up into small, independent, elective 
governments, each jealous of his neighbor, 
and all afraid of the Condoe tribe. 

Charles. Did not the society send them 
assistance ? 

Mr. G. I will tell you. A vessel was 
chartered by government to convey a number 
of liberated slaves to the land of their birth, 
under the direction of J. Ashmim, Esquire ; 
and the Colonization Society sent out under 
his care thirty-seven emigrants, and stores for 
the colony. Mr. Ashmun expected to return 
with the ship, and Mrs. Aslimun, anxious to 
accompany her husband, easily obtained his 
consent. They sailed from Baltimore in June, 
1822, and reached the Cape the eighth of 
August. Finding both agents had left the 
country, he assumed the office of principal 
agent, agreeable to the instructions he had 
received. He found a town laid out, and 
twenty or thirty houses erected in the native 
style, but not one unoccupied that could shel- 
ter from the rains. Mats were purchased to 
finish flooring and ceiling some of the dwell- 
9* 



106 CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 

ings that were in the greatest forwardness, and 
at the end of a month the reinforcement were 
all landed and accommodated with iionses, or 
rather huts, and the stores disposed of safely. 

Charles. What did Mr. Ashmun do with 
the slaves who had been liberated and sent to 
their own country by the United States* gov- 
ernment f 

J\[r. G. They were put under the care of 
a colored man of respectability and intelli- 
gence, who occupied apartments connected 
with them. It was intended to have them 
formed into a separate community from the 
other settlers in every respect excepting pub- 
lic worship on the Sabbath, and other occa- 
sions. There were only fifteen of them, and 
their superintendent instructed them daily 
three or four hours in reading, writing, and 
figures, and the principles of Christianity ; 
another man took the lead in their out-door 
work. King George lived almost within gun- 
shot of the settlement, and conscious of the 
wicked part he had taken in the affray with 
the colonists, and jealous of the agent, fearing 
that he would take vengeance on him for his 
perfidv, left his town within three days after 
Mr. Ashmun's arrival. Almost immediately 
the colony was disturbed by reports of the 
hostile designs of the neighboring tribes. Mr. 



CLALMS OF TlTE AFRICANS. 107 

Ashmun took an early opportunity to ascertain 
how much credit was due to these rumors, 
and visited several of the chiefs and head- 
men ; many of "them expressed the most am- 
icable feelings, but still it was evident to his 
discriminating mind that much malignity was 
partially disguised under expressions of friend- 
ship. He returtied fully convinced that power 
alone was wanting to ruin the settlement ut- 
terly. Preparations for defence were made 
with as much dis])atch as their circu(nstances 
would allow. 

Charles. Pa', what means of defence had 
they ? 

Mr. G. They had thiity men able to bear 
arms; forty muskets, all out of order; one 
brass and three iron guns, one only fit for use ; 
most of the others were on the opposite side 
of the river, half buried in mud. But one 
gun had any kind of a carriage ; however, 
they were all collected, and put in the best 
condition possible in their situation. The 
rains fell in torrents, and considerably retarded 
the progress of the works. The little town 
was hemmed in by a thick forest, except on 
the river side, neaily to the dwelling houses. 
Mr. Ashmun felt it to be important to have 
the trees cut down to form a defence in case 
the enemy should effect a landing ; his men 



108 CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 

SO cheerfully and vigorously engnged in this 
labor that it was soon accomplished, and the 
boughs and wild vines made this wall almost 
impenetrable to anything larger than musket 
balls. The men generally were zealous and 
faithful, and like Nehemiah and his couipan- 
ions, held a weapon in one hand while they 
wrought with the other. Their fatigue and 
exhaustion were greatly increased by a nightly 
watch, which occupied five stations and re- 
quired twenty men, so that when they slept it 
was on their arms. The agent's constitution 
was hardly equal to the burden he was com- 
pelled to bear, and he was attacked witli chills, 
the sure prelude to the African (ever. Mrs. 
Ashmun was ever ready to lend a helping 
hand to every one in trouble, and after the 
fever broke out among the reinforcement she 
was seen ministering to the wants, and sooth- 
ing the minds of the poor suffeiers, till the 
same disease prostrated all her powers of body 
and mind. In her case all remedies proved 
unavailing. Before her reason forsook her 
she told her husband that she was lKi})py in 
God, and felt her own will wholly absorbed in 
liis. She fell asleep in Jesus on the fifieenlh 
of September, 1822. At the time of her 
death there was but one individiial who came 
out with her that w;\s not on the sick list. 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 109 

Janeite, Was Mr. Aslimuii very sick, Pa' ? 

J\Ir, G. Yes, but his resolution seemed 
unconquerable ; for after a night of burning 
fever and delirium he would arise and give di- 
rections about the fort, and llie other works, 
visit the sick and encourage and comfort those 
in health. On the first of October he saw 
the brig Strong, which brought hicn to Africa, 
depart for the United States, leaving the whole 
coast in an unprotected state. 

IVJr. Ashmun was gradually recovering, and 
had succeeded in getting the fort in readiness, 
the guns mounted, and the men pretty well 
trained before tlie tenth of November, when 
the settlement was attacked by eight hundred 
infuriated natives. They came by surprize, 
having ascended the bank about daylight and 
marched shoulder to shoulder within fifty 
yards of the most powerful gun, which was 
elevated upon a platform of suitable height, 
and when it poured down upon them, every 
discharge "spent its force in a solid mass of 
living flesh ;" a savage yell was the signal 
for a retreat, and all the living soon disap- 
peared. 

Janeite. "Were tliere not a great many 
killed. Pa'.? 

Mr. G. Yes, but the exact number could 
not be ascertained. 



110 CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 

Janette. How many of the colonists per- 
ished ? 

M\ G. Joseph Benson was shot dead, 
and his five children taken captives. Mary 
Tines, a young nnarried woman, was stabbed 
to death in her own house ; a woman in the 
same house with her jumped through a small 
window and escaped with her life, but left her 
infant a captive in the hands of the barbari- 
ans. Mrs. Minty Draper was robbed of 
both her little ones, but escaped with a severe 
wound in her head. Mrs. Ann Hawkins re- 
ceived thirteen wounds, and was thrown aside 
for dead, but after months of suffering recov- 
ered, and is still living. Thomas Spinn was 
rtTortally wounded ; making the number of 
killed four, if we include one native African, 
who was with the colonists ; his wounds oc- 
casioned his death. Eleven persons were se- 
verely wounded, and seven children carried 
into captivity. 

Clara. Were these little captives never 
recovered. Pa' ^ 

Mr. G. Yes, my child, but not without 
much trouble, and some expense. 

Janette. How were they treated ? 

Mr. G. Very kindly. It was matter of 
devout thankfulness that Mr. Ashmun's life 
was spared, for it was in the most imminent 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. ] 1 1 

danger, having had no less than three balls 
fired through his clothes. After the foe had 
retreated, the settlers discovered that they had 
not more than three rounds of shot left on 
hand, and whether the enemy would rally and 
return was a matter of the greatest uncertainty. 

Janette. Pa', who was their surgeon f 

Mr. G. I am almost ashamed to tell you 
that they were destitute of a physician, sur- 
geon, or instruments ; not a single probe or 
lancet was to be found in the colony. 

Charles. What did they do with the 
wounded ^ 

Mr. G. A pen-knife, razor and priming- 
wire were all the instruments that Mr. Ash- 
mun and Mr. Lott Cary had to dress the 
wounds, and extract the fragments of cop- 
per and slugs with which the natives load their 
muskets. The sufferings of the poor settlers 
were unutterable for months, in consequence 
of their Want of surgical aid. The night af- 
ter the action an uncommon movement was 
heard, and a few guns were discharged and 
one of the cannon. At that moment an En- 
glish schooner, laden with military stores, only 
a few days from Sierra Leone, on hearing the 
firing, lay by till morning. When hearing of the 
situation of the colony, the officers came on 
shore, and generously offered their services to 



11-2 CLA13JS OF THE AFRICANS. 

the agent. Sustaining a neutral character, 
ihey could with propriety ascertain the dispo- 
sition and views of the neighboring tribes, and 
use their influence to bring about a stable 
])eace. 

An interview willi the chiefs was easily ob- 
tained, for they were much cast down in their 
own eyes after the bloody defeat. A truce 
was agreed on, and both parties pledged 
ihenfiselves to bring all their difficulties in fu- 
ture before an arbitration, in the English col- 
ony at Sierra Leone. 

After this another English vessel touched at 
the Cape, and generously Supplied the sick 
and wounded with necessary comforts. On 
the second of December the enemy attacked 
the settleQient again with a force of at least 
fifteen hundred, who were repulsed with a 
great loss, after the great guns were brought 
to bear upon them. In this battle there were 
only twenty-eiglit men and boys, who won an 
honorable victory over the fifteen hundred in- 
vaders, with the loss of only three killed and 
four wounded. A final cessation of hostilities 
was at length effected by the interference of 
Captain Laing, the celebrated African travel- 
ler, who very providentially happened to be 
on the coast about that time. 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 1 13 

Charles. The Africans are not such ibiinl- 
dable foes as the Indians, are they, Pa' ? 

Mr. G. O no, Cl)arles ; one of our mis- 
sionary stations at the West would hardly come 
off conquerors against fifteen hundred, or even 
eight hundred Indians. 

Charles. Were the natives satisfied with 
the second battle, or did they court another ? 

Mr. G. The colony was soon afterwards 
nnuch strengthened by the arrival of a large 
privateer schooner. Captain Wesley, the 
commander, with his crew and his mechan- 
ics on board, put the settlement in such a fine 
state of defence, as to render any further mo- 
lestation hopeless. A tower was built, which 
was named Stockton castle, in honor of Lieu- 
tenant Stockton, who took a very prominent 
part in the first purchase of Cape Mesurado. 
The Colonization Society gave the name of 
Liberia to the territory included in that pur- 
chase. Mr. Ashmun was enabled to bear up 
under the load of care and fatigue which had 
pressed upon him without interruption, till 
some time after the battle ; he then became 
feverish, and gradually sunk down into a 
state of hopeless debility. At this moment of 
almost despairing suspense, a French practi- 
tioner touched at the Cape, and offered his 
medical services, which were readily accepted. 
10 



114 CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 

]VJr. Ashmiin said, " A portion was exhibited, 
of wliich one of the ingredients was a large 
spoonful of calomel ! The Frenchman then 
proceeded on his voyage, and left "ine to di- 
gest his medicine as well as 1 could. Such 
was the weakness of my system, that I could 
neitlier throw it off nor take it into the circu- 
lation for five days. The crude poison was 
then voided, and a distressing salivation en- 
sued ; before which all other morbid symp- 
toms disa})peared." I mention this fact to 
show a singular example of the overruling 
providence of God, and the improvidence of 
men in suffering so many persons to be desti- 
tot'C of medical and surgical aid in a sickly 
clirne ; hoping in future that the scantiness of 
the funds of the Society will not, as in this 
case, be an apology for emigrants being in 
such a destitute condition. By the middle of 
February, Mr. Ashmun was able to engage in 
the active duties of his office; and on the last" 
day of March, 1823, when the colonists had 
consumed almost their last morsel of provi- 
sions, the joyful tidings of the arrival of the 
Cyane, Captain Spence, filled the hearts of 
the emigrants with thanksgiving and praise. 

It would be difficult to estimate too high 
the services of this benevolent man, and his 
generous crew. On hearing of the battle and 



J 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. Ho 

sufferings of the colony, he went to Sierra 
Leone, and fitted up Mhe United States' 
schooner Augusta, for the use of the colonists ; 
and Lieutenant Dashieli, a pious, brave, and ac- 
complished officer, took the command of her, 
with a crew of six white and six black men, 
to cruise in the neighborhood, protect the col- 
ony, and suppress the slave-trade. This he 
continued to do with zeal and fidelity till 
June, and then he was suddenly called to en- 
ter into rest. His death was lamented by all 
who had ever known his worth. His suc- 
cessor was Mr. McMulHn, a gallant young 
officer of great merit. Mr. Seton, the clerk 
of tlie Cyane, consented to remain for a time, 
to assist Mr. Ashmun in the arduous duties of 
the agency. The fever had attacked several 
of the officers, and among its early victims 
was Dr. Dix, a generous and zealous friend 
of the cause ; the emigrants shed tears of 
heart-felt sorrow as they laid him in his lowly 
bed. The Cyane left the Cape the twenty- 
first of April, and in seven days no less than 
sixty of her officers and crew sickened of the 
fever, and forty of them died within a few 
weeks. 

Tlie melancholy news of the disasters and 
death's at the Cape reached America just as 
the brig Otsego, with over sixty emigrants, 



116 CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 

were ready to embark for Africa, under the 
direction of Dr. Ayres. 

Janette. Pa', were they willing to go, after 
they heard of the sickness and battles f 

Mr. G. Yes ; every one seemed to be 
firmly resolved to go, and live or die in the 
land of their ancestors. 

Charles. Perhaps the worst was not told 
them. 

Mr. G. Yes it was, Charles ; they were 
frankly told that great trials awaited them, 
and probably many of them would fall vic- 
tims to the climate — that all who felt the least 
preference to remain were at perfect liberty 
to stay; they still had -time, and a better op- 
poi tup.ity to count the cost than they had had 
before the afflictive intelligence arrived ; yet 
not a. single individual faltered. The Otsego 
had a quick passage, and when they landed 
at the Cape, the joy of the colonists was 
unutterable; but unfortunately for the new 
comers, there were no suitable accommodations 
prepared. The harassed state in which the first 
settlers had been kept by the war, and its con- 
sequent trials, had preveiUed their paying that 
attention to the erection of buildings, and agri- 
culture, that the comfort of the colony demand- 
ed. Before the war, their gardens were en- 
clo^^ed, and gave rich promise of abundance of 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 117 

vegetables ; but all had been destroyed ; the 
fences liad been removed to make pallisades to 
defend the colony. To these and other causes 
were to be attributed the fatal sickness that 
seized upon them almost before the ship was 
unloaded ; and what added to the distress was 
Dr. Ayres's illness, he being among the first 
attacked. Eight deaths followed in rapid 
succession. In those days of affliction, the 
kindness and unwearied efforts of the Rev. 
Lott Gary, who went out in the first company 
of emigrants, will never be forgotten. Three 
times a day he visited ail the sick, and re- 
ported tlie case of each to Dr. Ayres, at that 
time too ill to attend in person : having re- 
ceived his instructions, he prepared both med- 
icine and food, and administered it to the poor 
sufferers, as they lay stretched upon mats on 
the floor of the huts, many of which were 
daily drenched with rain. 

Charles » Was this the same Lott Gary 
that we read about in the African missionary 
book, Pa' .? 

Mr. G. Yes, Gharles ; he was a wonder- 
ful man, and accomplished a great amount of 
good to the bodies and souls of his fellow- 
men. 

When the brig Otsego returned to the Uni- 
ted States, in June, the amiable Mr. Seton, 
10* 



] IS CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 

■-AiQ had been suffering under the fever seve- 
ral weeks, took passage in the hope of being 
i)enefited by the voyage, but he died within 
a week after the brig sailed. 

Clara. Did Dr. Ayres recover ? 

Mr. G, Yes; and one cf his first acts was 
to appoint Mr. Cary guarchan to all the boys 
in the settlement \vl;o \vcre destitute of [)a- 
rcnts, to direct and restrain them. He caused 
the site of the town to be surveyed, the streets 
laid out, and the plantations set off to the set- 
tlers. His health failed so rapidly before the 
ulcse of the year, that he felt obliged to re- 
turn to the United States. 

Children, your hour has passed, and 1 pre- 
sume your mother and aunt Caroline have re- 
turned from their ride. 



Who named the colony ou Cape Mesurado ? Who was the 
ensile named for ? What can jou relate concerning- the liev. 
1-ott Cary ? Who did Vi'. Ayres appoint guardian of the African 
beys ? 



CHAPTER VII. 

Co^ie and deploje the inrnmiorahle ills, 
Which the poor Negro's cu]) of honor fills ; 
Dooui'cl by white monsters, prodigies in crime. 
To stripes and fetters in a foreign clime. 

Mrs. Granville and Miss Spencer had 
returned home, and were quietly seated with 
their needles under the eastern piazza, when 
the children entered the yard. The moment 
they had ascended the steps, Mrs. Granville 
asked where their father left the affairs of the 
colony. 

Charles. Where Dr. Ayres became sick 
and sailed for the United States, in Decem- 
ber, 1823. 

Mrs. G. At the annual meeting of the 
Colonization Society, in February, 1824, 
General Harper proposed that the territory 
and settlement under their patronage should 
be named Liberia, and the town which had 
been laid out should be called Monrovia, in 
honor of Mr. Monroe, at that time President 
of the United States. Both these resolutions 
passed unanimously, and several others, ex- 



120 CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 

pressive of gratitude to Major Laing, the Af- 
rican traveller, the officers and crew of the 
Cyane, and other friends, both English and 
American, who had aided the feeble colony 
in times of distress, during the bloody contest 
with the opposing natives. They also passed 
a resolution expressive of gratitude, confi- 
dence and esteem, for the able services of Dr. 
Ayres ; and they manifested the deepest sor- 
row for the untimely death of INIr. Seton, 
midshipman Gordon and his companions, of 
the British schooner Driver, who magnani- 
mously sacrificed their lives for the benefit of 
the colony. 

Janciie. After Dr. Ayres returned, did not 
the Board of Managers send out another 
physician, and more settlers t 

Mrs. G. Yes ; one hundred and five em- 
igrants sailed in the ship Cyrus, the first day 
of January, 1824 ; but destitute of a physi- 
cian, for probably Dr. Ayres did not send 
home word that he was about to return. Dur- 
ing the voyage a remarkable degree of health 
was enjoyed, and the day of their landing at 
Liberia was the happiest day the settlers had 
ever seen. However, a melancholy scene 
soon followed. The dwellings bore no pro- 
portion to the number of emigrants, and their 
exposed situation induced the fever of the 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 121 

coast, which made such ravages that in a few 
days every individual of the newly arrived 
company were bowed down under it. 

Clara. Without any physician, Ma' ? 

Mrs. G. They had the constant attention 
of the Rev. Lott Gary, who had acquired 
considerable knowledge of Dr. Ayres ; and 
he managed the coast fever with great skill, 
and so much success that every person recov- 
ered, except three little children. Mr. Ash- 
mun's health had been in a precarious state 
some time before the arrival of the Cyrus, 
but he felt more encouraged and animated 
after the new colonists were settled, as he 
witnessed their industry, piety, and regular 
obedience to the laws and regulations of the 
settlement. The only chance of Mr. Ash- 
mun's recovery seemed to be a change of 
air, and relaxation from all care as well as la- 
bor, and he hastened his arrangements for 
leaving the colony for a season. 

Mr, E. Johnstone, a man of tried worth 
and ability, was appointed general superin- 
tendent; and In April, Mr. Ashmun sailed for 
the Cape de Verds. The Rev. Mr. Gurley 
was instructed by the Board of Managers to 
visit Liberia, and assist in making some new 
arrangements, and he took passage in the 
sch'r Porpoise, to return by the same vessel. 



122 CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 

The captain touched at the Cape de Verds, 
and Mr. Gurley and Mr. Ashmun had a joy- 
ful meeting. The healtli of the latter was so 
much improved, that upon receiving an invita- 
tion to return to Liberia, with Mr. Gurley, he 
readily went on board, and they were wel- 
comed at Monrovia the 13th of August. Mr. 
Gurley was highly gratified with the appear- 
ance of the town, and equally so with the for- 
tress, and the improvements in gardening, and 
farming. It was pleasing to witness the Sab- 
bath schools, and the strict observance of the 
Sabbath ; but there w^ere many evils, that 
required the application of appropriate reme- 
dies. The government was too feeble; some 
were dissatisfied with the decisions' of the 
Board respecting land ; others complained for 
the want of a physician, medicine, farming- 
tools, seeds, and a thousand other ihings, for 
the comfort of the emigrants, and to aid them 
in their various callings. During this visit, 
Mr. Ashmun and Mr. Gtjrley laid a founda- 
tion for an energetic and durable government ; 
they encouraged the desponding, confirmed 
the hopes of the more sanguine, and strength- 
ened the resolutions of all, so that when he 
left the colony, a new impulse had been given 
to piety, industry, and enterprise. 

Three day-schools were opened immedi- 



CLALMS OF THE AFRICANS. 123 

ately, and preparatory measures were taken 
for the establisliment of a large school on the 
monitorial plan. A place of worship for the 
Baptists, and one for the Methodists were com- 
menced, and carried forward with becoming 
spirit. 

Janette. Ma', who had they for ministers.^ 

Mrs. G. The Rev. Lott Gary was the 
Baptist minister. 

Clara. And a doctor too ^ 

Mrs. G. I will tell you som.ething of this won- 
derful man's history. I have often thought it 
would be impossible for black or white persons 
to become acquainted with his faithful and per- 
severing labors for the good of mankind, espe- 
cially for his countrymen, without imbibing 
something of his spirit. He was born a slave, 
about tl)irty miles below Richmond, iti Vir- 
ginia. In 1804, he was sent to Richmond to 
labor in a ware-house. At that time he was 
intemperate and profane, but God in tender 
love to Africa, and the caisse of Zion, gave him 
a new hearty and in 1807 lie was received into 
the Baptist church in Richmond, by the Rev. 
Mr. Gourtney, at that time pastor. Soon after 
making a profession of religion, he heard a 
sermon preached from the conversation of 
Christ with Nicodem.us, and it awakened in 
him an ardent desire to learn to read. He 



124 CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS, 

obtained a Testament, and commenced learn- 
ing bis letters, by trying to read the chapter 
which contains tlje conversation. 

Clara. Ma', what chapter is it? 

Mrs. G. The third chapter of John. His 
anxiety to learn was apparent to the people in 
the ware-house, and one of the young gentle- 
men instructed him daily, as he found oppor- 
tunity. He made such rapid progress, that in 
a little time he was able to read understand- 
ingly, and write well enough to make out tick- 
ets for the draymen, and superintend the ship- 
ment of tobacco. 

I have been told that his correctness and 
fidelity were often rewarded by his employer 
with a five dollar bill, and that with such pre- 
sents and some trifling perquisites in the store, 
he obtained a sum sufficient to buy his own 
freedom. His wife died in 1813, and soon 
afterwards he purchased his two little children 
and himself. 

Charles. Mother, do you know how much 
he paid I 

Mrs. G. Eight hundred and fifty dollars. 

Janette. Do you think his presents for 
faithfulness amounted to that sum in nine 
years ? 

Mrs. G. No ; but he saved enough, besides 
. what he earned for his owner, to pay for him- 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 125 

self; and several merchants, who knew his 
worth, gave him money to buy his little ones. 

Janette. Did he ever marry again ? 

Mrs. G. Yes; he married a pious woman 
soon after the death of his first wife. But she 
lived only a few months after her arrival in 
Africa. For his third wife he took a young 
woman, who went to Africa from Petersburgh 
in Virginia. 

Charles. When did he become a minister ? 

Mrs. G. From the time of his conversion, 
he used to hold meetings with colored people, 
and exiiort them to repentance and faith in 
Christ. I once heard it remarked, that his 
sermons frequently exhibited " a boldness of 
thought, and a strength of native intellect, 
which no acquirement could have given him." 

Tiie other ministers were Colston M. War- 
ing of Petersburgh, and a Mr. Lewis of Rich- 
mond. Before j\lr. Cary left America, a 
little church was formed, consisting of seven 
or eight persons, who all settled at Monrovia, 
except Colin Teague. lie remained at Sierra 
Leone, when tlie emiirrants removed to Caoe 
Mesurado. 

Janette. Ti]is church, I suppose, chose Mr. 
Cary their minister. 

Mrs. G. Yes; and were favored with his 
instructions from the foundation of the settle- 
IJ 



126 CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 

ment at Monrovia* During the first years of 
the colon}', when the trials were the most 
severe, he unifornily said that al! the riclies 
and honors in An)erica could not induce him 
to return. Mr. Aslnnun highly respected him^ 
and cherished for him an ardent friendship. 
His name will be had in everlasting remem- 
brance by the friends of Africa. Early in 
1825, many persons, under his preaching, 
became concerned for their souls, wliich 
issued in the ho])eful conversion of a consider- 
able number. I believe that his churcli con- 
tained sixty members in 1826. 

In the winter of 1825, the brig Hunter, 
of Norfolk, carried out enugrants, stores, and 
lumber. The greater part of the emigrants 
were farmers from Virginia, who felt unwilling 
to settle down on the town lots, which were 
all small. They wanted plantations ; this 
led Mr. Ashmun to enter into a negotiation 
with the kings and head men, for another 
tract of land, suitable for plantations ; and in 
May, 1825, it was brought to a happy issue, 
by a grant of the richest land on the St. Paul's 
river, a few miles from the Cape. These 
emigrants suffered less with the fever, than 
any company that had preceded them, but 
several children died. 

January 4, 1826, the brig Vine sailed from 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 127 

Boston with thirty-four emigrants, eighteen of 
whom, at their own request, were formed into 
a church jitst before tiiey sailed. 

1 wo days before tliey embarked, a sub- 
scription was opened, and about six hundred 
dollars oi)taiued, besides a good bell, worth 
fifty dollars — a printing press — nearly three 
hundred dollars worth of type — ink — paper — 
office furniture, and every tfiing necessary for 
a com()lete printing establishment. The sal- 
ary of Mr. Charles L. Force, the printer, was 
paid in advance. 

Charles. Where was the bell to be hung ^ 

Mrs. G. Upon the monitorial school- 
house. A fine library was collected and sent 
out, principally by ilie Rev. Chester Wright, 
of Montpelier, Vermont; wiih globes, slates, 
quills, &ic. 

Janette. And furniture for houses, too, I 
suppose. 

Mrs. G. Yes; and clothes, blacksmith's 
tools, and a variety of oiher articles, in such 
abundance, that the vessel was entirely filled. 

Janette. Wlio went out in this richly 
freisihted ship as agent, mother.'* 

Mrs. G. The Rev. Mr. Sessions, but he 
was directed to return in tlie same ship. The 
Rev. C. Holton went out as a missionary, and 
Dr. Hunt, physician. The ship Indian Chief 



128 CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 

sailed from Norfolk, with more than one 
hundred and fifty emigrants, a few weeks after 
tjie departure of llie Vine. This ship was 
laden with military stores, provisions, and the 
frames of five large buildings, purchased by the 
government, to accommodate those captured 
Africans, who from time to time have been 
brought into the different Stales, contrary to 
the laws. This ship carried out Dr. Peaco, a 
surgeon in the navy, in the double capacity of 
government agent, and physician to the colony. 
The emigrants who went with him, were mostly 
from North Carolina and Virginia, and in- 
cluded some excellent mechanics; but a large 
propoilion of them were bred farmers. It 
was a valuable company, and the substantial 
tokens of regard they received from people at 
Norfolk, bore strong testimony to the respect 
and confidence they had insj)ired among the 
friends of colonization in that city. 

Jnnette. Do tell us what became of the 
Vine and Indian Chief .^ 

Mrs. G. The}', both had an easy voyage, 
and landed in comfort and safety at Liberia ; 
the Vine on the seventh of February, and the 
Indian Chief the twenty-second of March, 
1826. The printing press was received with 
enthusiastic joy, and two hundred dollars, 
immediately subscribed towards publishing a 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 129 

newspaper. Mr. Force entered upon his 
labors with great zeal, but was attacked with 
the coast-fever soon afterwards, and his death 
was announced in the third paper that was 
issued from his press. Mr. Sessions survived 
bim but a short lirne. Mr. Holion was very- 
sick for a few days, and then appeared to be 
recovering, but by taking improper food he 
relapsed, and on the third of July he closed 
his earthly pilgrimage. He was calm and 
resigned to {he last, and died in the full hope 
of a blessed immortality. The loss of this 
exemplary and devoted man retarded the 
progress of education, and, with the disap- 
pointment occasioned by the removal of Mr. 
Force, cast a gloom over the whole colony. 

The emigrants on board the Indian Chief 
were mosily from North Carolina, and the 
change of climate scarcely affected them 
enough to produce severe sickness in a single 
instance. A receptacle had been prepared 
before they arrived, their provisions and med- 
icine were abundant, and they were favored 
with the attendance of a skillful physician, and 
were very soon in a situation to settle upon 
their own lands, which were assigned them 
on the St. Paul's river. Their settlement 
was called Caldwell. A building had been 
erected, at the expense of government, at that 



130 CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 

place, a hundred feel in length, which proved 
of great use lo the settlers, while they were 
building their own houses upon their planta- 
tions. 

Charles. How large were llie plantations ? 

Mrs. G. From five to ten acres. The 
farmers suffered extremely from the encroach- 
ments of w'ild animals and insects, two or 
three years, and some of them becaine some- 
what discouraged, and engaged in trade and 
other employments. 

Charles. Do you know how many planta- 
tions or farms they have under cultivation ^ 

Mrs. G. No, I do not know liovv many 
they now have; in 1826, there were at tlie 
Cape more than a hundred, besides those on 
Stockton creek, called the half-way farms, 
which made more than two hundred and sev- 
enty. 

Janette. Why did they call the settlement, 
on Stockton creek, the half-iva y farms ? 

Mrs. G. Because it was equally distant 
from Monrovia and Caldwell, the St. Paul's 
settlement. Their farms might have been 
mnde very pi'ofitable, had not the settlers been 
so anxious to engage in commerce, which has 
increased with almost unexampled rapidity. 
More than five years ago, fifteen vessels 
touched at Monrovia in about six months, 



CLAIIViS OF THE AFRICANS. 131 

that purchased between forty and fifty thousand 
dollars worlh of country produce, upon wljich 
the exporters made large profits. As the col- 
ony increased, Mr. Ashtnun found it important 
10 secure larger tei'ritory, and after some diffi- 
culty he succeeded in purchasing of Young 
Sesters a fine tract, ninety tiiiles south of Mon- 
rovia, besides another tract, nearer the Cape, 
called the Junk territory. The chief of tlie 
Sesters agreed to put up a good store-house, 
and furnish laborers to cultivate I'orty acres of 
rice. 

Charles. What year was this purchase 
made, mother ? and who took charge of it ? 

Mrs. G. In 1826. A colored family 
moved down to the Sesters' country, and took 
charge of the plantation, and anotlier family 
moved to the trading-house, built in the neigh- 
borhood of the Junk territory. 

Charles. The colony must have been in pos- 
sess-ion of a large extent of country at that time. 

Mrs. G. Yes ; ihe colonial government 
extended from Cape Mount, to Tradetown, 
including one hundred and fifty miles of coast. 
Bushrod Island was included in Mr. Ashmun's 
purchase, one of the most beautiful spots in 
Africa. It is situated about four miles from 
the mouth of St. John's river, and not more 
than six miles long and a third of a mile wide. 



132 CLAIMS OF THE AFRICAN SL 

Janette. What is the appearance of the 
inland country, as you leave tlie neigliborhood 
of tile coast ^ 

Mrs. G. A uniforin upland country, mod- 
erately elevated, and abounding: in rivulets and 
unfailing springs of pure water ; the soil is 
decidedly richer than any upon the coast. 

Clara. Mother, did Mr. Holton's death 
prevent the opening of a school f 

Mrs. G. For a time; but Rev. Mr. Gary 
and IMr. Lewis commenced a missionary 
school, which sometimes contained nearly sixty 
scholars ; some of the boys belonged to the 
first families in the country. Books, station- 
ary, and clothes have been sent from benevo- 
lent individuals in the United Stales, but the 
principal expense of this establishment has 
been defrayed by the Baptist Missionary Soci- 
ety of Richmond, Virginia. This Society has 
done very much toward the support of these 
teachers, whose management of the scholars 
has been admirable. 

Janette. Kad they no school for the Afri- 
can girls ? 

Mrs. G. Yes ; there was one for liberated 
African females, and one for the boys, but the 
girls made much more rapid improvemeni than 
the boys. 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. ^33 

Charles. How were these boys and i^irls 
brought into the colony ? 

Mrs. G. Before i\Jr. Ashinun purchased 
so much land on the coast, from Cape Mount 
to Tradetown was a continued slave market. 
The piratical slave ships took in slaves in sight 
of Monrovia, and hovered over the coast in all 
directions. Mr. Ashmun, with the aid of two 
or three armed vessels, pursued them, and 
was so fortunate as to recover fifty young 
slaves from one ship. He rescued nearly one 
hijndred more, whom he found at a slave fac- 
tory, waiting for a ship. The most of all 
these recovered children and youth he put 
into the schools of the colony. 

Charles. Was not Mr. Ashmun a terror to 
the natives, especially the slave dealers ? 

Mrs. G. Yes, they feared him ; but the 
natives felt a reverence, and love for him, as 
well as fear. His firmness and integrity won 
their esteem and confidence, and many of the 
kings and head-men were anxious to brine: 
their sons into the colony, to be trained up in 
civilized habits, and to acquire a knowledge of 
letters and the arts. 

Janette. ^V'ere not the children of the set- 
tlers put to school ? 

Mrs. G. Yes; the girls had a female 
teacher, and the boys a master. There was 



134 CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 

a private school opened at Caldwell, soon 
after that settlement was fornned ; it contained 
thirty or forty scholars, supported by the 
parents, except the hooks, and a few things 
furnished by Mr. Ashmun. 

Janette. Do not the colored people, who 
went out to Africa, value education more than 
those who remain here ? 

Mrs. G. They do. Many of those who 
have gone, are deeply interested in the con- 
cerns of education, and moral improvement. 
A part of the old agency house has been fitted 
up for a reading room, and for the colonial 
library, which contains more than a thousand 
volumes, of valuable books. In the same 
building there is a museum of African curiosi- 
ties, which is almost daily increasing in value. 

Charles, Monrovia must be quite a large 
place. 

Mrs. G. Yes; it has a Baptist and Meth- 
odist meeting-house, a new agency house, a 
market house, a monitorial school-house, and 
a town house. This town makes a pretty 
appearance, as you approach it from sea. 

In February, 1827, almost a hundred emi- 
grants, from Noith Carolina, sailed in the Doris 
for Liberia. Tlie Society of Quakers con- 
tributed six hundred dollars toward their 
outfit ; nearly half the whole number had 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 135 

heen brought up by tbem. They were well 
clothed, and had a good supply of provisions 
and medicine. Rev. Mr. McGill went out 
wit!) ihem as teacher. They reached Mon- 
rovia, on the eleventh of April, in good heahh, 
and during the sickness that summer, only 
two deaths occured, and both of those were 
children. They proceeded to Caldwell, and 
found excellent accommodations in the recep- 
tacle built by government. Soon after the 
departure of the Doris, a vessel was chartered 
by government, to convey one hundred and 
forty-four re-captured Africans to their native 
land ; and Dr. Peaco, who had returned to the 
United Slates, was to take charge of them, had 
not his death prevented. Dr. Todsen was 
appointed government agent and physician. 
They sailed from Savannah, in Georgia, the 
tenth of July, and reached the Cape the last 
week in August, 1827. 

Janette. How were they all disposed of? 

Mrs. G. In seven days after they landed, 
they were all hired by the old settlers, except 
twenty, who, for a little time, were supported 
by the United States. They were to receive 
lots of land the same as other colonists, when 
they wished to settle in that way. Mr. Der- 
mid gave twenty-six of his slaves their free- 
dom, having gained their consent to go home 



136 CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 

to Africa. Some of them were pious; all 
sober and industrious. About the time this 
company sailed, more than a hundred and sixty 
others went to IMonrovia from North CaroHna, 
furnished with the most hberal supphes of 
food, clothing, and implements of industry ; 
making five hundred and twenty-four persons 
of color who Went to Liberia in 1827. That 
was a year of unexam[)led prosperity in the 
colony. The government was administered 
with mildness and energy, and ihe state of 
society seemed to indicate that tlie time was 
rapidly approaching, when the people would 
be in a situation to govern themselves without 
the aid of agents from the government or from 
the Colonization Society. 

The accession of Cape Mount to the colo- 
nial possessions was a subject for devout 
thanksgiving. State Societies, auxiliary to the 
American Colonization Society, began to be 
formed, and in 1827, Maryland appropriated 
a thousand dollars a year, for ten years, 
towards defraying the expenses of the colored 
freemen within her limits, who might wish to 
join the colony. Before the year 1827, of 
which I am now speaking, there had been but 
one cow owned in the colony, and that was 
brought from Sierra X^eone, five years before. 



. ,1 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 137 

In November, 1827, they had fourteen cows, 
and milk began to be plenty. 

Janette. Why did they do without cows 
so long r" 

J\J?'s. G. The natives would not drive 
them from the country, having till then pro- 
hibited any cattle, except bullocks, to be drove 
to the Cape. 

Charles. Had they horses ? 

Jll'i's. G. The first horse was introduced 
into the colony in October, 1827, by Francis 
Devany, the high-sheriff. Asses were brought 
there about the same time. 

Charles. How happened the natives to 
change their customs? 

Mrs. G. The slave trade had received a 
death blow for a great distance ; and you 
know the Africans must trade in something ; 
and when they could no longer buy and sell 
men, they were willing to deal in cattle and 
horses. 

Charles. Mr. Ashmun's labors must have 
been great, after the colony began to increase 
so rapidly. 

Mrs. G. Yes ; they were so great that 
he felt unable to carry such a burden. About 
the time the Doris arrived, he had important 
business to transact with six vessels. A 
Spanish pirate had threatened an attack, and 
\2 



138 CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 

the colony must be defended : he was negoii- . 
aling with king Boatswain, and other kings and 1 
chiefs in the interior, about a road through 
their respective countries, to facihiate trade ; 
and he l)ad to attend personally to all the ar- 
rangements for the new comers, who arrived 
in the midst of this accumulated pressure of 
business. He was enabled to sustain all these 
cares and duties, and many others, till the 
fifth of February, 182S, when he was com- 
pelled to yield to an attack of fever, which, 
to use his own expressions, kept him "tossing 
upon the brink of eternity a long time." 
However, between the paroxysms of fever 
and deliiium, he gave directions to his faith- 
ful people, who executed theni with prompt- 
ness and fidelity; so that the interests of llie 
colony suffered very little from his illness. 
From the moment he began to recover, he 
made arrangements for leaving the colony for 
a season, aware that his constitution was well 
nigh, if not wholly, broken down. He soon 
perceived that the only hope of regaining tol- 
erable healtli depended upon a speedy change 
of climate ; he therefore left the Rev. Lott 
Gary, his substitute in the colonial departn)ent, 
and prepared to return to the United States 
in the Doris. He left the colony in tears ; 
almost the whole population followed him to 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 139 

the ship ; three military companies escorted 
him, in token of lljeir respect and love. Mr. 
Gary wrote at tliat tiine, — -"Never, I sup- 
pose, were greater tokens of respect shown 
by any comninnity taking leave of their head ; 
he is, indeed, dear to this people; and it 
will be a joyful day when we are again per- 
mitted to see him." 



Janetie. Mother, did 



lie ever 



fc- 



J\Irs. G. No; Janette, the ship touched at 
St. Bartholomews, where he experienced all 
the attentions kindness could prompt, and the 
most skillful physician bestow. But his weak- 
ness continued to increase so much, that he 
was obliged to let the Doris proceed on lier 
voyage without him. However, he gradually 
recruited, and his physician consented to his 
embarking for New Haven, Connecticut, on 
the ninth of July, where he arrived on the 
tenth of August, in a deplorably weak condi- 
tion. 

The assiduity of ardent friendship, the ad- 
vice of the first physicians, and the unceasing 
prayers of Christians, cheered his heart, and 
for a few days seemed to invigorate his ex- 
hausted powers; but afterwards he sunk very 
rapidly, and expired wi'.hout a sigh or a groan, 
on the twenty-fifth of August, 1823. 

Janette. O mother, what did Africa do ^ 



140 CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 

Mj's. G. She mourned over his tomb witii 
thousands in America, who revered and loved 
him in his hfe, and honored him at death. A 
beautiful monument was placed over his grave, 
which your aunt Caroline will describe to you, 
for she has seen it. 

Charles. Who was appointed his successor ? 

Mrs. G. Dr. Richard Randall, of Wash- 
ington ; he was accompanied by Dr. Mech- 
lin, a young physician of great promise. 
They sailed for Liberia in November, 1828. 
And in January 1829, the ship Harmony, 
Captain Johnston, with one hundred and sixty 
select emigrants of the most respectable charac- 
ter, furnished with every thing necessary to 
health, comfort, and usefulness. This ship 
carried out a large assortment of trade goods, 
which were owned by the emigrants on board, 
many of whom were distinguished for intelli- 
gence, influence, and piety. The prince Ab- 
duhl Rahhahman, his wife, the Rev. Mr. 
Payne and Rev. Mr. Turner, colored minis- 
ters, went out passengers in the same ship. 

Janeite. Ma', who was prince Abduhl 
Rahhahman ^ 

Mrs. G. He was a Moorish Prince, born 
at Tombuctoo, in Africa. Having spent a 
few of his early years at Teemboo, he returned 
to the place of his nativity, and finished his 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. HI 

education. His father was king of Tombuctoo, 
and when Prince was a little boy, he left his 
kingdom and went to Foota Jallou, a country 
as large as New England, a distance of twelve 
hundred miles ; and he eventually became king 
of Teemboo. When Prince was about twenty- 
six years old, it is said he entered the army of 
the king of Foota Jallou, and soon rose to dis- 
tinction. While carrying on a war with a neigh- 
boring tribe, he was taken prisoner, with almost 
all his army, put on board a slave-ship, and sold 
in the West Indies. He was carried from 
thence to Natchez, in the United States, where 
he lived in slavery forty years. In the youth- 
ful days of Prince, Dr. Cox, an American 
surgeon, went on shore in Africa, lost his path, 
and not being discovered, his ship proceeded 
on her voyage. The doctor wandered into the 
country, and after travelling several days, he 
wounded his leg, and became sick, and in 
this situation, he was received by the father of 
Prince, who with his son treated him with 
unbounded kindness and hospitality, for six 
months, at the capital of the Foota Jallou 
country. It was a singular providence, that on 
the return of the same ship which the doctor 
left, he should return to America in less than 
a year from the time he first landed in Africa. 
Many years had passed away, when Dr. Cox 
12^ 



142 CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 

was riding through the streets of Natchez — I 
will relate the interview in the words of 
Piince. 

" I said to a man who came with me from 
Africa, Sambo, tiiat man rides like a white 
man 1 saw in my country. See when he 
con^ies by ; if he opens but one eye, that is the 
same man. When he came up, hating to stop 
him without reason, I said, Master, you want 
to buy some potatoes ^ He asked, What pota- 
toes have you f While he looked at the pota- 
toes, I observed him carefully, and knew him, 
but he did not know me. He said, Boy, 
where did you come from ? I said. From Col. 

F 's. He said. He did not raise you, you 

came from Teemboof I answered, Yes, sir. 
He said. Is your name Abduhl Ralihahman f I 
said, Yes, sir. Then springing from his horse, 
he embraced me. and inquired how I came to 
this country ? Then he said. Dash down the 
potatoes, and come to my house. I said, 1 
could not, but must take the potatoes home. 
He rode quickly, and called a negro woman 
to take the potatoes from my head. Then he 

sent for Gov. W to come and see me. 

He told the governor, if any money would 
purchase me, he would buy me and send me 
home. The next morning he inquired how 
much would purchase me, but my master was 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 143 

unwilling to sell me. He offered large sums 
for me, but they were refused. Then he said 
to master, Ifyou cannot part with him, use him 
well. After Dr. Cox died, his son offered a 
great price for me." 

Janette. O how wonderful ! How long had 
he been a slave at that time ^ 

Mrs. G. Sixteen years. Dr. Cox had 
then just taken up his residence at Natchez. 
After he obtained his freedom he said, " I 

have lived with Col. F forty years. 

Thirty years I labored hard. The last ten 
years I have been indulged a good deal." 

Charles. How old was he then 't 

Mrs. G. Seventy. He had a wife, five 
children, and eight grand children. He vis- 
ited Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, 
New York, Boston, and other places, and 
received money enough to pay for all that 
belonged to him. I was at Boston, while he 
was there, and often saw him. I felt ashamed 
to see a man begging money to redeem his 
wife and children, in the streets of our free 
and happy republic, and blushed for the dis- 
honor of my country. 

Charles. If 1 live to be a man, T will try 
to have slavery blotted out of the land. 

Janette. Ma', how did Prince look ? 

Mrs. G. When I saw him, he wore a 



144 CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 

green frock coat, yellow sandals, and a white 
muslin turban. He was tall, and very erect ; 
his form was slender, but he had a dignified 
air. His complexion was black, but his fea-' 
tures were not African, though large. 

Janette. Did he ever find his friends ? 

Mrs. G. No ; he died of dysentery soon 
after his arrival at Africa. 

Janette. And what became of the new 
agent and Dr. Mechlin ? 

Mrs. G. They wrote home a glowing 
description of the town of Monrovia, the gar- 
dens, plantations and buildings of the settlers. 
Dr. Randall spoke in the highest terms of the 
ability and fidelity of Mr. Gary, and thought 
he deserved great credit for his successful 
efforts in laying out a pleasant town for the 
recaptured Africans. He proposed to call it 
Cary-toiun, and the Board of Managers con- 
firmed his choice. 

I cannot relate any more this afternoon. 

Why was the principal town at Liberia called Monrovia ? 
Who laid the foundations of a durable government at Liberia ? 
When? Wlien did the brig Vine sail from Boston with emi- 
grants ? Relate all you can remember concerning the missionary 
and primer. Give an account of those emigrants who sailed 
in the ship Indian Chief. What have you read about the 
schools ? Do you remember when cattle and horses were intro- 
duced into the colony? When did Mr. Ashmun leave the col- 
ony ? When and where did he die ? Who succeeded him as 
governor ? Give an account of Prince Abdulh Rahhahman. 



CHAPTER Vill. 

Land of our fathers — Africa, 

We turn our thoughts to thee, — 

To gain thy shores we'll gladly bear 
The storm upon the sea. 

" Who can tell me where your mother left 
the history ? " said Miss Caroline. " I can," 
said Clara. " Dr. Mechlin had described the 
gardens, and plantations of the settlers." 

Caroline. Yes ; he found a much greater 
spirit of enterprise than he anticipated when 
he left this country. Three enterprising 
colonists had just returned from an ex- 
ploring tour as far as Bo-Poro, king Boat- 
swain's town, which they found well fortified, 
and it contained a thousand houses at least. 
They found the St. Paul's river half a mile 
wide, twenty-five or thirty miles above its 
mouth, the water deep, and free from obstruc- 
tions to navigation. 

Charles. Did the men go up the country 
merely to see it ^ 

Caroline. No ; their first object was to reg- 
ulate the conditions of trade with Boatswain ; 



]46 CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 

but Mr. Ashmiin had for y*ears been anxious 
to ascertain the truth of the statements which 
he had often heard made, that from Boat- 
swain's country, there was a free communica- 
tion with a people within two hundred miles, 
who had made considerable advancement in 
civilization, and who used the Arabic language. 
A little more ligiit was thrown upon the sub- 
ject, but it was still left in uncertainly how 
much truth was in the reports in circulation. 

Charles. How could they convey goods to 
Boatswain's town ? 

Caroline. Upon the backs of men. 

Charles. That must have been very expen- 
sive. 

Caroline. Not very expensive ; only fifty 
cents a hundred up to Bo-Poro, and the same 
back again. 

Janettc. Wiiat kind of roads did they 
find .? 

Caroline. Little foot-paths. When they 
went up they entered such a path about six 
miles from the mouth of the St. Paul's, and 
struck into immense forests, filled with ele- 
phants, leopards, and innumerable wild beasts, 
without seeing a single settlement till within 
twenty miles of Bo-Poro. The travellers met 
many elephant hunters, but they were very 
civil and obliging. 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 147 

Charles. Have none of the agents made 
lono; journeys in Africa f 

Caroline. Mr. Ashnuin, youknow, explored 
the coast, and drew charts, but he never made 
any very long inland journeys ; I believe Dr. 
Randolph's journey up the St. Paul's, was the 
longest that has ever been taken by any of the 
agents or physicians. 

Charles. Did he take the same rout that 
those did who went to Bo-Poro .^ 

Caroline. Not exactly, though he saw a iew 
of the places they described. He crossed one 
very beautiful plain, without any trees or 
shrubs over six feet high, except here and 
there a majestic palm-tree, eigljty or a hun- 
dred feet high ; near tiie tops of them broad 
pea-green leaves shoot forth, resembling an 
open umbrella, measuring thirty feet across. 

This plain, ov prairie, was a favorite resort 
of the elephants, and wild cattle, being covered 
will) their foot prints. After crossing it, they 
ascended a hill or mountain, elevated two 
hundred feet above the plain, and when they 
reached the summit, the St. Paul's river broke 
upon their view, intercepted only by the thick 
foliage of the trees. The water of this river 
is so clear, that you can see the bottom where 
the water is twenty feet deep, and can see 
the fishes play many yards distant. When 



148 CLAIRIS OF THE AFRICANS. 

they began to descend the hill, it was very 
amusing to see tliem scramble along. A 
Krooman had been hired to carry the provis- 
ions, and a little native boy carried a small 
iron poi to cook in ; his foot sli})ped, and he 
and his pot rolled down the hill together. In 
this way, he upset the Kroomnn, who rolled 
on after him, till they came within a (ew yards 
of a precipice, fifty feet high, and had they 
not caught hold of some bushes, all would have 
gone over in a heap. 

Charles. What became of the pot and the 
provisions ^ 

Caroline. The pot was dashed in a thou- 
sand pieces, and the basket turned topsy turvey 
so many times, that it was difficult to separate 
the different articles ; but being tied close, 
nothing was lost. The poor boy was laughed 
at all the way, for his fall, and the Krooman 
was at first quite vexed, but afterwards said, 
" 1 no care ; I no break the governor's plate." 
At night they built them a snug liiile arbor, 
and the natives built several large fires to keep 
off the wild beasts. In the niorning they took 
up their line of march, and reached Millsburgh 
in safety. 

Janetie. Where was that, aunt Caroline ^ 

Caroline. The frontier settlement, about 
twenty miles from Monrovia. It was so named 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 149 

in honor of Mr. Mills and Mr. Burgess, whose 
visit to Africa preceded the establishment of 
a colony. 

Clara. Is Dr. Randall now at Liberia ? 

Caroline. No, my dear ; he died of the 
country fever, a few weeks after he made this 
journey. He soon recovered from his first 
attack, but neglected himself, and had another, 
which reduced iiim lower than the first; how- 
ever, from this he began to recover, but even 
before he was able to walk, he insisted upon 
being carried to the beds of the sick, to pre- 
scribe for them. The exertion was too much 
for him, and retarded his restoration, though 
he still gradually improved till he was able to 
do a little. While in this feeble state, the 
government schooner got on to the sand-bar, 
and no one could restrain him from going on 
board, where he hibored in the heat and wet, 
till he received a stroke from the sun, and was 
carried home delirious, but no sooner was he 
partially restored, than he again exposed him- 
self, and was seized with a most violent and 
fatal fever, which cut him off in the midst of 
his usefulness. 

Charles. Aunt Caroline, will you not tell 
us about him, as mother did about Mr. Bacon 
and Mr. Ashmun f I like to hear about good 
men. 

13 



150 CLABLS OF THE AFRICANS. 

Caroline. Dr. Randall was born at Annap- 
olis in the State of Maryland ; and was edu- 
cated at St. John's college. He studied med- 
icine with Dr. Ridgely of Annapolis, and after- 
wards took his degree, as doctor of medicine, 
at the medical school at Philadelphia. In 
1818 he was appointed surgeon's mate in the 
army, and not long afterwards was raised to 
the ranlv of post surgeon. In 1825, he 
resigned his commission, and commenced 
practice in the city of Washington. Two 
years afterwards, he was elected professor of 
chemistry in the medical department of Co- 
lumbia college. lie was a man of sound 
judgment, ardent affections and unbounded 
benevolence. His medical and military 
knowledge, with all his other varied attain- 
ments, rendered him remarkably well quali- 
fied to fill such a highly responsible station. 
There were not wanting persons who warned 
iiim of the dangers to which the situation 
would expose him, and, with the warmest 
affection, he was intreated to remain at home ; 
but he replied, " that in doing his duty, he 
disregarded his life ; that with his feelings and 
purpose, he could readily exchange the 
endearing intercourse of relations, the alluring 
pleasures of refined society, the promised suc- 
cess of professional exertion, for the humble 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 151 

duty of promoting the happiness of lije |)oor 
negroes of Africa, and he happy in so 
doing. ^^ 

Jcmette. Did Dr. Mechlin die too, aunt 
Caroline f 

Caroline. No, my dear ; he was apparent- 
ly much sicker than Dr. Randall, hut he was 
more prudent, and implicitly followed the 
advice of those who had long lived in that cli- 
mate. 

Charles. Was he colonial agent after Dr. 
Randall's death ^ 

Caroline. Yes ; and by this change the 
colony were deprived of his valuable services 
as a physician ; however, the Board of r\Ian- 
agers took the earliest opportunity to appoint 
Dr. Anderson, of Hagarstown, in Maryland, 
physician and assistant agent. He sailed for 
Africa, January 16, 1830, in the brig Liberia, 
which had been chartered by the citizens of 
Philadelphia. A gentleman in Georgia iiad 
given freedom to thirty of his slaves, with a 
view to send them to Africa in this sliip ; but 
when the poor fellows had walked six hundred 
miles, the heavy tidings came to their ears, 
that the ship had sailed almost a week before ; 
sixty emigrants and two Swiss missionaries 
sailed in the Liberia with Dr. Anderson. 



152 CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 

Janette. Where did these missionaries come 
from r* 

Caroline. From the missionary seminary 
in Basle, Switzerland. I will tell you more 
about them another time. In addition to those 
1 have already mentioned, there was the Rev. 
George Erskine, a Presbyterian minister from 
Tennessee, with his wife, five children, and his 
mother, who was eighty years old, born in 
Africa. Capt. Sherman said that during the 
voyage, Mr. Erskine preached sermons that 
would have been listened to with pleasure by 
any Cliristian audience. Among the emi- 
grants was a very aged man, named Cook ; 
his family consisted of thirty persons, he 
seemed like an old patriarch. They had a 
passage of forty-two days, and all were safely 
landed in good health and spirits, and imme- 
diately went u{) the St. Paul's, and settled at 
Caldwell. Mr. Erskine said to Capt. Sher- 
man, at parting, " I can never be thankful 
enough to God for directing my views to this 
coiuitry." Mr. Erskine was brought into 
notice by the Rev. Dr. Anderson, of Mary- 
viiJi^'. He aided him in acquiring a good 
kiu)\vledge of theology, and assisted him in 
procuring funds to purchase liis own freedom 
and that of his family. 

The oilier emigrants who went out with 



I 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 153 

Capt. Sherman, often visited Monrovia, dur- 
ing his slay, and uniformly expi'essed mjch 
satisfaction with their situation and pros- 
pects. 

Nearly a hundred captured Africans had 
been brought into the United States, and, at 
the expense of government, had been sent 
home to Africa, under the superintendence of 
A. H. i^Iechlin, Esq. (a brotljer of Dr. Mech- 
lin) and Dr. Smith. Tiiey sailed from the 
Ujiited Stales in the Waslnngton barge, with 
a captain so ignorant that after sailing eighly- 
seven days, they put into Bai'badoes, in a mis- 
erable coiuiition. The barge was unfit to 
])roceed on the voyage, and the British [)rig 
Heroine was chartered to take them to Libe- 
ria, where they landed March 5, 1830. Nine 
had died on the j)assage. The rest were in 
fine health, after they had been settled a little 
time on Bushrod Island. 

Charles. I do not remember where that 
is, aunt Caroline. 

Caroline. A short distance from Caldwell, 
with which it will soon be connected by a 
bridge. 

Janeiie. How did Dr. Anderson find the 
colony ^ 

Caroline. In general pro^periiy ; but he 
found Dr. Mechlin in a veiv feeble state of 
13^ 



154 CLALMii OF THE AFRICANS. 

heahl) ; he liad been sufl'ering some time under 
a liver complaint, and he returned to Amer- 
ica, wiiii Cajjt. Slierman of the Liberia, 
leaving Dr. Anderson at the head of the col- 
ony. The multiplied larbors and anxieties 
wliich pressed upon bim were great, but he 
was sustained in the faithful discharge of all 
his duties till he was attacked with the fever. 
After lingering twelve days, he expired on the 
twelfih of April, about two m.onihs after he 
landed. 

Charles. Was he imprudent k^ his sick- 
ness.'* 

Caroline, i never heard him accused of 
being careless. Many persons soon die in 
Africa, who are among the most prudent, but it 
is thougiuthat a larger number of white people 
die there than would if iliey took proper care 
of tliemselves a few months after their arrival. 
Dr. Anderson's death was deeply lamented 
both at Liberia and in the United States. He 
was a most amiable man and devoted Chris- 
tian. In his last hours he desired to have this 
sentence, " Jesus, for thee I live, for thee I 
die !" inscribed upon his tomb-stone. 

Charles. How old was he? 

Caroline. About twenty-eight. He left a 
most interesting and endeared family circle for 
the sake of aiding in the good cause of estab- 



CLAIMS OF THE AB^RICAxNS. I55 

lishing a Christian colony on the coast of 
Africa, that hind of daiknessj superstition and 
crime. 

Clara. Who succeeded iiim in tlie agency ? 

Caroline. Mr. Wilhams, who at that time 
was vice-agent. 

Janette. Did many of the emigrants who 
went out in the Liberia die of fever ^ 

Caroline. Mrs. Erskine, one of her daugh- 
ters, and Mrs. Cook, died about the same 
iim€ with Dr. Anderson. Mr. Erskine did 
not iong survive. !n llie midst of these mul- 
tipHed sorrows, the Rev. Lott Cary came to 
an untimely end by the explosion of the mag- 
azine. 

Charles. How did it happen ? 

Caroline. A spark fell from a candle 
which -was communicated to some powder. 
The death of this good man occasioned many 
tears in Liberia, and many parts of the United 
Slates. 

Charles. I wonder the Society have not 
been discouraged, and abandoned the colony, 
it seems as if half who go die. 

Caroline. Why, Charles, I am surprised 
to hear you express such cowardly sentiments. 
You must look over your history of the sev- 
eral States agaiu, and see what Plymouth was 
ten years after the landing of the Pilgrims. 



156 CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 

That little colony, after struggling ten years, 
could number only three hundred inhabitants, 
and Liberia has already almost two thousand! 
Let us look at Jamestown in Virginia; that 
colony was a continued scene of riot, disorder, 
famine, and desolation, the twenty-five first 
years of its existence. In 1585, when the 
settlement was first attempted, almost five hun- 
dred colonists were landed, well su])plied with 
provisions and all needful stores. They had 
three ships, forts, arms, tools, clothes, and 
a valuable assortment of trade goods, suited to 
Indian customers ; five hundred hogs, as many 
fowls, with plenty of sheep and goats. Nets 
for fishing, boats, and other things necessary 
in their circumstances. But being an idle, 
intemperate, and dissolute set of people, "their 
time and provisions were consumed in riot ; 
their utensils were stolen, or destroyed ; their 
hogs, sheep, and fowls, killed and carried off by 
the Indians. The sword without, and famine 
and sickness within, soon made among them 
surprising destruction. Within the term of 
six months, of their whole number, sixty only 
survived. These were the most poor, fam- 
ishing wretches, subsisting chiefly on heibs, 
acorns and berries. Such was the famine, that 
they fed on the skins of the horses: nay, they 
boiled and ate the flesh of the deady At that 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 157 

awful moment relief came, and afterwards a 
better class of settlers arrived and the colony 
prospered. Why, I would ask, should we 
expect to plant a colony without the loss of 
some lives and much treasure, any more than 
those who have gone before us? To the col- 
ored people, the climate of Liberia is perfectly 
agreeable, and no white persons are allowed to 
reside there, except the agents, missionaries, 
and teachers of schools ; and there is no danger 
but that enough Christian philanthropists will be 
found to fill these stations, till there are colored 
men enough educated, and properly qualified, 
to manage all the concerns of church and 
state. I have a circular wljich was prepared 
by the colonists, and sent to their colored 
brethren in the United States, which I will 
read to you, when I have related what hap- 
pened after the death of Mr. Erskine. 

The Colonization Society, affected by the 
situation of those liberated slaves who had 
travelled so far, and been disappointed of a 
passage to their country, chartered the brig 
Montgomery, and put them on board, with 
about forty other emigrants. 

Clara, Do you know who gave liberty to 
the thirty slaves ? 

Caroline. Yes ; J. Early, Esq. They 
sailed in April, 1830 ; most of the whole com- 



158 CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 

pany were sober, industrious persons, and a con- 
siderable number were pious. Two of them 
were preachers. The Pennsylvania Society 
paid a large part of the expense of this rein- 
forcement, and a sum of four thousand dollars 
was raised in the city of Philadelphia in the 
course of a few weeks, for the purpose of 
defraying the expense of removing any slaves 
whom their masters might please to liberate for 
colonists in Liberia. 

Janette. Were the owners of slaves wil- 
ling to give them freedom ^ 

Caroline, Yes, some were ; and the nuin- 
ber is daily increasing. C. Ballon, Esq. of 
Savannah, and a few other gentlemen emanci- 
pated twenty ; Miss Van (Meter seven, and 
Miss Bhickburn sent out twelve of her slaves. 
One of the females was so well educated as to 
make a very useful school-mistress. She was 
fitted out with spelling-books, lessons and pic- 
tures for an infant scliool, and a library of 
considerable value. Two of Miss Blackburn's 
women had husbands, and willi the assistance 
of a few friends, she purchased both, to prevent 
the separation of families. 

Janette. How generous ! Do you know 
how much she paid for them ? 

Caroline. Eight hundred dollars. She 
received from her friends only one hundred 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 159 

and fifty dollars ; so that allowing all her 
slaves to be worth as much as these men, she 
gave equal to four or five thousand dollars. 

Janette. I did not know slaves were worth 
so much money. 

Caroline. A gentleman in New Orleans 
told me, he had two house slaves for whom 
he paid fifteen hundred dollars. 

Janette. Aunt Caroline, could you deal in 
slaves ^ 

Caroline. No, I could not ; but I suppose 
I am indebted to my education for much of 
the aversion I feel to slavery. The people in 
Piiiladelphia and Baltimore have done a great 
deal for the Colonization Society. They 
have quite recently raised a pretty large sum 
to purchase a Methodist preacher, his wife 
and four children, who wish to go to Liberia. 
Richmond has tal<en a noble stand in this 
good work ; the Christians there have trained 
up their little children to feel and act like 
high minded patriots, and philanthropists. 

Charles. Do you think New England has 
done her part towards building up Liberia.'^ 

Caroline. No, I do not. However, I think 
public sentiment is becoming miUch more fa- 
vorable, and I expect the time is rapidly ap- 
proaching when there will be a stronger sym- 
pathy, and more liberality manifested in the 



160 CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 

eastern and middle States, than there is at 
present at the south. 

When the scholars in all our Sabbath 
schools awake to the importance of the sub- 
ject, the free people of color in the United 
States will see better days ; and I trust they 
will know how to prize the opportunity of 
going to a country where they may enjoy 
something more than the name of freedom. 

Clara. Do all the children at Liberia go 
to the Sabbath school ? 

Caroline. Nearly all. About a year ago, a 
Sabbath School Society was formed at Liberia, 
and since then almost every young man in the 
colony has connected himself with it as a 
teacher or scholar, and I presume most of 
the smaller children attend. I think it would 
be an excellent plan for the members of our 
Sabbath schools to subscribe enough to fur- 
nish all the Sabbath schools in the colony 
with suitable libraries. Could not you and 
your sisters do a little towards it, and encour- 
age others to do as much, Charles f 

Charles. Why, yes» aunt Caroline ; I won- 
der I never thought of it before. Last year 
we sent books to the Greek children, and to 
three Sabbath scliools in Illinois, and I will 
ask Pa' if he would not like to have us make 
out a box for Liberia. 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 161 

Caroline. That will be a good plan ; books 
are needed there very much. There is an 
orphan school, which was established by Rev. 
JVJr. Sessing, one of the Swiss missionaries, 
and the orphan children of the natives, as well 
as those of the emigrants, were admitted. 
These want books. 

Janetie. Aunt Caroline, have you ever told 
us what became of Dr. Mechlin, after he re- 
tiH'ned to the United States ? 

Caroline. No, 1 believe I have not ; but 
he recovered, and after making all the effort 
his health would admit, he returned to Libe- 
ria in the ship Carolinian, in October, 1830, 
with one hundred and seven emigrants. Dr. 
Humphries went out in the same ship, as 
colonial physician and assistant agent ; his 
habits were consumptive, and it was hoped he 
would recover his health by going to a warm 
country. 

Charles. Did he regain l)is health ? 

Caroline. No, he died of a pulmonary af- 
fection, in February, 1831. 

Charles. Are they again left without the 
aid of a physician ? 

Caroline. No; Dr. Todsen sailed about a 

month after Dr. Mechlin, in the brig Volador, 

W'ith eighty-three passengers. The Baptist 

Board of Foreign Missions, sent out the Rev. 

14 



162 CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 

Mr. Skinner to establish a Baptist mission at 
Liberia. He was accompanied by Mrs. Skin- 
ner, and a little daughter ; both died soon after 
their arrival, and Mr. Skinner had several at- 
tacks of the fever, which reduced him so low 
that the only hope of preserving his life was 
returning to a cool climate. He sailed for 
America, but died on the passage ; you will 
find all the particulars of the sickness and 
triumphant deailis of this devoted family in 
the Baptist African and Haytien Mission 
book, published by the Massachusetts Sab- 
bath School Union. The ship that took out 
Mr. and Mrs. Skinner, carried eight of the 
ransomed children and grand children of 
Prince Abduhl Rahhahman. 

Charles. How many died, besides Dr. 
Humpliries and Mr. Skinner's family f 

Caroline. Fifteen or sixteen ; but almost 
every one of those who died, had lived in a 
mountainous country before they left the Unit- 
ed States. 

Janeite. How many of those died who 
went out in the Volador ? 

Caroline. One of the United States' ships 
has recently arrived, and brought letters from 
Dr. Mechlin, and Dr. Todsen. At the time she 
left Liberia, there had not been a single death 
among those who went out in that ship. They 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 163 

Stated in their letters, that the general health 
of the colony was good, and the improving 
and prosperous condition of the settlement 
was very encouraging. As a proof of this, 
they publish a weekly newspaper called the 
' Liberia Herald,' which is edited by Mr. J. B. 
Russworm, a colored man wlio received his 
education at Bowdoin college, in Maine. 

Charles. Did he go out to publish a news- 
paper ^ 

Caroline. The principal object he had in 
view when he left America, was to superin- 
tend the system of education at the colony ; 
an office for which he was well qualified. Dr. 
Mechlin speaks of him in the higliest terms, 
and he has had a good opportunity for be- 
coming well acquainted with his worth, hav- 
ing occupied the agency house with him ever 
since his arrival. 

Mr. Russworm left a colored friend of his 
preparing for missionary labors, in Africa, — 
and in a letter to him he says, " What my 
sensations were upon landing I can hardly de- 
scribe. Monrovia contains double the wum- 
ber of houses I expected, and 1 am informed 
that Millsburg and Caldwell contain nearly as 
many. You here behold colored men exer- 
cising all the duties of offices of which you 
Cd^n scarcely believe. Many fulfil the impor- 



164 CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 

tant duties with much dignity. We have 
here a republic in miniature. 

There is a great field for usefulness here; 
and when 1 look around and behold the pa- 
gan darkness of the land, an aspiration rises 
to heaven that my friend may become a sec- 
ond Brainerd or Eliot. I long for the time 
when you, my dear friend, shall land on these 
shores, a messenger of that gospel, which 
proclaiins liberty to the captives, and light to 
those who sit in great darkness. 1 long to 
see young men, who are now wasting their 
days in the United States, flocking to this 
land as the last asylum of the unfortunate." 

Mr. Russworm edited a paper in New York 
before he went to Liberia, entitled ' Freedom's 
Journal ;' for several years he was heartily 
opposed to the plan of colonizing, but after 
making himself acquainted with all the Colo- 
nization Society had accomplished, and all its 
designs, his views entirely changed, and he 
became one of its most firm and zealous sup- 
porters. 

On one occasion he said to some of his 
colored friends, "I consider it a mere waste 
of words to talk of enjoying citizenship in the 
United States ; it is utterly impossible in the 
nature of things ; all, therefore, who pant for 
this, must cast their eyes elsewhere. The 
interesting query now arises, where shall we 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 165 

find this desirable spot ? If we look to Eu- 
rope, we find that quarter already overbur- 
dened with a starving population ; if to Asia, 
its distance is an insuperable barrier, were all 
other circumstances favorable. Where then 
shall we look so naturally, as to Africa ?" 

Charles. I think he must have been a sen- 
sible man. 

Caroline. He was so ; and a man who 
had received a college education. If all our 
colored population were to obtain learning, 
they would never remain in the United States 
in such a debased condition, but would line 
our shores, till they were taken, and convey- 
ed to the natural home of the African where, 
upon the land of their ancestors, they might 
breathe the air of liberty, and live respected 
and honored by all nations. 

Clara. Have none of Prince Abduhl's re- 
latives ever been heard from ^ 

Caroline. Yes. He wrote to them im- 
mediately after he arrived at Liberia, and it 
was currendy reported that sootj after his 
death, some of them forwarded six or seven 
thousand dollars worth of gold dust to Bo- 
Poro, where they heard of his death and re- 
turned home directly. 

Mr. Russworm says Prince left a great 
many writings, some of which were read by 
14* 



166 CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 

a man who came to the colony from Teembo* 
Mrs. Prince was present and observed the 
man wept, — he was very urgent to have her 
go immediately to Teembo. He said she 
could reacii that place in eight days, if she 
travelled through the woods, or in ten, if she 
coasted along the shore. There is no doubt 
but he belonged to the reigning family, at the 
time he was taken prisoner, and made a slave 
— and it is said his nephew is now the reign- 
ing sovereign of his native country. 

Janette. It seems they have to pass through 
Boatswain's country, on their way to it, over 
land. 

Caroline. Yes ; but he is friendly to the 
colony. Mr. Russworm calls him " the Na- 
poleon of these wilds." 

Charles. Are his people more civilized 
than other tribes f 

Caroline. Yes, a little. The men wear pan- 
taloons, and a cloth tastefully folded around 
the waist. 

Janette. Are there any schools oj)ened for 
the education of young people of color who 
are pious, and wish to go to Liberia to do 
good ^ 

Caroline. Yes, there is one at the city of 
Washington, supported by the "African Edu- 
cation Society of the United States." I do 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 167 

liot know that females are received into this 
school, however. There is another at Hart- 
ford, Connecticut, and another in Parsippany, 
New Jersey ; but none of them receive that 
patronage, that the importance of the subject 
demands. 

The Polish general, Kosciusko, bequeathed 
over twenty thousand dollars, and left it in the 
hands of the late President Jefferson, for the 
purpose of purchasing and educating female 
slaves. I am not able to tell you whether it 
has been appropriated to that object yet, but 
I presume it will be, if it has not in some way 
which would have met the views of the bene- 
volent donor. I sincerely hope some plan 
will speedily be laid, which shall secure to 
the colony, preachers and teachers of color, 
equal to the demands of the population ; per- 
sons of deep piety, and sound learning. 

Janette. Aunt Caroline, when will you 
read the circular you promised ^ 

Caroline. Now. (Reads.) " The first con- 
sideration which caused our voluntary removal 
to this country, and the object which we 
still regard with the deepest concern, is liber- 
ty — liberty, in the sober, simple, but com- 
plete sense of the word : not a licentious lib- 
erty, nor a liberty without government, or 
which should place us without the restraints 



168 CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 

of salutary laws — but that liberty of speech, 
action, and conscience, which distinguishes 
the free enfranchised citizens of a free state. 
We did not enjoy that freedom in our native 
country ; and from causes which as respects 
ourselves, we shall soon forget forever, we 
were certain it was not there attainable for 
ourselves, or our children. This, then, be- 
ing the first object of our pursuit in coming 
to Africa, is probably the first object on which 
you will ask for information. And we must 
truly declare to you, that our expectations, 
and hopes, in this respect, have been realized. 
Our constitution secures to us, so far as our 
condition allows, " all the rights and privi- 
leges enjoyed by the citizens of the United 
States," — -and these rights and privileges 
are ours. We are the proprietors of the soil 
we live on, and possess the rights of freehold- 
ers. Our suffrages, and, what is of more 
importance, our sentiments and our opinions 
have their due weight in the government we 
live under. Our laws are altogether our 
own : they grow out of our circumstances, 
are framed for our exclusive benefit, and ad- 
ministered either by officers of our own ap- 
pointment, or such as possess our confidence. 
We have a judiciary, chosen from among 
ourselves ; we serve as jurors in the trial of 
others 5 and are liable to be tried only by 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 169 

juries of our fellow citizens, ourselves. We 
have all that is meant by liberty of conscience. 
The time and mode of worshipping God, as 
prescribed to us in his word, and dictated by 
our conscience, we are not only free to fol- 
low, but are protected in following. 

" Forming a community of our own, in the 
land of our fore-fathers, — having the com- 
merce, and soil, and resources, of the country 
at our disposal ; we know nothing of that de- 
basing inferiority willi which our very color 
is stamped in America. There is nothing 
here to create the feeling on our part — noth- 
ing to cherish the feeling of superiority in the 
minds of foreigners who visit us. It is this 
moral emancipation — this liberation of the 
mind from worse than iron fetters — that re- 
pays us ten thousand times over, for all that 
it has cost us, and makes us grateful to God 
and our American patrons, for the happy 
•change which has taken place in our situation. 
We are not so self-complacent as to rest sat- 
isfied with our improvement, either as regards 
our minds or our circumstances. We do not 
expect to remain stationary. Far from it. 
But we certainly feel ourselves, for the first 
time, in a state to improve either to any pur- 
pose. The burthen has gone from our shoul- 
ders ; we now breathe and move freely, and 



170 CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 

know not (in surveying your present state) 
for which to pity you most — the empty name 
of liberty, which you endeavor ib content 
yourselves with, in a country that is not yoju's, 
or the delusion which makes you hope for 
ampler privileges in that country hereafter. 
Tell us, which is the while man, who, with a 
prudent regard to his own character, can as- 
sociate with one of you, on terms of equality ? 
Ask us, which is the white man who would 
decline such association with one of our num- 
ber, whose intellectual and moral qualities are 
not an objection ? To both these questions 
we unhesitatingly make the same answer : — 
There is no sucli white man. 

" We solicit none of you to emigrate to this 
country : for we know not who among you 
prefers national independence, and the honest 
respect of his fellow men, to that mental sloth 
and careless poverty which you already pos- 
sess, and your children will inherit after you, 
in America. But if your views and aspira- 
tions rise' a degree higher — if your minds are 
not as servile as your present condition-— we 
can decide the question at once ; and with 
confidence say, that you will bless the day, 
and your children after you, when you deter- 
mine to become citizens of Liberia. 

" But we do not hold this language on the 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 17] 

blessings of liberty for the purpose of consol- 
ing ourselves for the sacrifice of health, or 
the suffering of want, in consequence of our 
removal to Africa. We enjoy health, after a 
few months in the country, as uniformly, and 
in as perfect a degree as we possessed that 
blessing in our native country. The true 
character of the African climate is not well 
understood in other countries. Its inhabi- 
tants are as robust, as healthy, as long lived, 
to say the least, as those of any other coun- 
try. But the change from a temperate to a 
tropical country is a great one — too great not 
to affect the health, more or less — and, in the 
cases of old people, and young children, it 
often causes death. 

" People now arriving, have comfortable 
houses to receive them ; will enjoy the regu- 
lar attendance of a physician in the slight 
sickness that may await them ; will be sur- 
rounded by healthy, and happy people, who 
have borne the effects of the climate, who 
will encourage and fortify them against that 
despondency which, alone, has carried off 
several in the first years of the colony. 

" A more fertile soil, and a more productive 
country, so far as it is cultivated, there is not, 
we believe, on the face of the earth. Even 
the natives of the country, almost without 



172 CLALMS OF THE AFRICANS. 

farming tools, vvlihoiit skill, and with very 
little labor, make more grain and vegetables 
than they can consume, and often more than 
they can sell. 

"Cattle, swine, fowls, ducks, goats, and 
sheep, thrive without feeding, and require no 
other care than to keep them from straying. 
Cotton, coffee, indigo, and the sugar-cane are 
all the spontaneous growth of our forests, and 
may be cultivated to any extent by such as 
are disposed. 

"The same may be said of millet, and loo 
many fruits and vegetables to be enumerated. 
Nature is here constantly renewing herself, 
and constantly pouring her treasures into the 
laps of the industrious. 

" We could say, on this subject, more, but 
we are afraid of exciting, too highly, the hopes 
of the imprudent. Such persons, we think, 
will do well to keep their rented cellars, 
and earn their twenty-five cents a-day at the 
wheel-barrow, in the commercial towns of 
America, and stay where they are. It is only 
the industrious and virtuous that we can point 
to independence, and plenty, and happiness in 
this country. Such persons are nearly sure, 
to obtain in a few years, to a style of com- 
fortable living, which tliey may in vain hope 
for in the United States. 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. I73 

" Mechanics, of nearly every trade, are 
carryins; on iheir various occupations ; their 
wages are high, and a large number would 
be sure of constant and profitable employ- 
ment. Not a child or youth in the colony, 
but is provided with an appropriate school. 
We have a numerous public library, and a 
court hotise, meeting houses, school houses, 
and fortifications sufficient, or nearly so, for 
the colony in its present state. 

" Our houses arc constructed of the same 
materials, and finished in the same style, as 
houses in America. We have abundance of 
good building stone, shells for lime, and clay, 
of an excellent quality for bricks. Timber 
is plentiful, of various kinds, and fit for all 
the different purposes of building and fencing. 

"Truly we have a goodly heritage ; and if 
there is anything lacking in the character or 
condition of the people of this colony, it can 
never be charged to the account of the coun- 
try ; it must be the fruit of our own misman- 
agement, or sloihfulness, or vices. But from 
these evils we confide in Him, to whom we 
are indebted for all our blessings, to preserve 
us. It is the topic of our week'y and daily 
thanksgiving to Ahnighly God, both in'j)ublic 
and private ; and He knows with how much 
that we were ever conducted, bv his 
15 



174 CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 

providence, to this shore. Such great favors, 
in so short a time, and mixed with so few 
trials, are to be ascribed to nothing but his 
special blessing. This we acknowledge. We 
only want the gratitude which such signal fa- 
vors call for. 

" Nor are we willing to close this paper with- 
out adding a heartfelt testimonial of the deep 
obligations we owe to our American patrons 
and best earthly benefactors, whose wisdom 
pointed to this home of our nation, and whose 
active and persevering benevolence enabled 
us to reach it." 

Charles. Aunt Caroline, do you believe 
black men ever wrote that paper ? Why it 
reads as well as if a lawyer had written it ; I 
don't believe Pa' could have done better. 

Caroline. Yes, Charles ; there was a meet- 
ing of black men in Monrovia, who united in 
voting to send an address to the people of 
their own color in America, and they appoint- 
ed the Rev. C. M. Waring, Capt. Barbour, 
F. Devany, W. J. Weaver, Esquires, and 
the Rev. Mr. McGill, to prepare the address 
which I just read to you. Colored people 
are as capable, polite, and intelligent, when 
educated, as white persons, and you see from 
this circular what rapid advancement has 



I 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 175 

already been made in learning and the arts of 
life. Some of these men have been engaged 
in trade, and are worth from five to twenty 
thousand dollars. IVJr. Devany is the high 
sheriff, and is highly respected. 

Charles. Were I a colored boy, I would 
work my fingers to the bone to get money 
enough to pay my passage to Liberia, where I 
would study and work till I became a sheriff, 
a minister, or a squire. 

Janette. I wonder the black girls will stay 
here, when they can go to such a good place, 
and be as much thought of as any white lady 
whatever. 

Caroline. I have often been astonished to 
hear the silly excuses they have made when 
I have urged their going. But too many of 
them have so long been inured to servitude 
and debasement, that they have lost all self- 
respect and confidence in themselves. 

Janette. If they could read this circular, 
written by their own countrymen, I think they 
would go by thousands, and leave the old 
shabby houses and cellars in the cities va- 
cant — and the old barren pine plains in the 
country, to be cultivated by white men. 

I know some colored girls; and if they will 
go to Liberia, 1 will give them as many of 
my clolhes as my mother will allow ; and save 



176 CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 

all my pocket-money to pay their passage. 
How much will it take ? 

Caroline. From twenty to twenty-five dol- 
lars. You may talk the subject over among 
the Sabbath scholars, to-morrow, and then 
they will be prepared for the address on the 
fourth of July, which comes on Tuesday 
next. 

Charles. I think we boys will do some- 
thing, at least as much — and I think we shall 
do more than the girls. If they raise coffee 
at Liberia, aunt Caroline, might not some 
borrow money to carry them out, and pay in 
coffee and rice after they get settled .^ 

Caroline. They would have a great deal 
to do after they reached Africa ; too much to 
be able to spend time to raise coffee, which 
they can buy of the natives for five cents a 
pound, and rice for a dollar a bushel. 

Charles. How cheap ! people inight bet- 
ter afford to work cheap there than here. Do 
you know what wages are received by the 
emigrants f 

Caroline. Mechanics get from one to two 
dollars a day, while native laborers get only 
five or six dollars a month. 

Charles. If other things are cheap in pro- 
portion to coffee and rice, mechanics may 
soon get money before-hand. 



.^ 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 177 

Caroline. If they are prudent, they can — 
for other things are plenty and cheap. A 
little way in the country good cattle may be 
bought from three to six dollars a head, and 
palm oil, which is used in cooking, as we use 
butler and lard, for twenty-five cents a gal- 
lon ; and a gallon of palm oil is equal to six 
pounds of butter. 

Here Miss Caroline began to put her work 
in the basket, and Clara laying her hand upon 
it, said, 'aunt Caroline, do not leave off talk- 
ing, do tell us about Sierra Leone ; did you 
not promise us that you would ?' 

Caroline. Yes, my dear, I did so ; but 
you know I deferred that subject for the sake 
of telling you about Liberia. ' I knew it,' 
said Clara, 'and 1 do wrong to trouble you.' 

Caroline. You have not troubled me. I 
am always happy to communicate useful in- 
formation. 



15 



178 CLAIftIS OF THE AFRICANS. 



CHAPTER IX 



Say, shall not Afric's fated land, 
VVith news of peace be blest ? 

Say, shall not Ethiopia's band 
Enjoy the promised rest ? 



' O Pa', do you know what a good place 
Liberia is ? ' said Cliarles, as he ran to meet 
his father when he came home to tea. 'They 
have plenty of coffee for five cents a pound, 
and rice for a dollar a bushel.' 

Mr. G. I know it, my son, and think it a 
great pity that all our colored population can- 
not be removed to that goodly land. 

Janette. Why may they not be removed, 
father ? 

Mr. G. It would take a great deal of 
money to remove them, if they were all at 
liberty, and wished to go ; besides they ought 
to be prepared for a removal, by first acquir- 
ing some knowledge of letters, and of some 
mechanical trade. It is thought by many, 
that a manual labor school at the south, would 
be an excellent place to train up those lads 
designed to settle at Liberia. 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. ] 79 

Charles. Would slave owners approve of 
*one f 

Mr, G. I presume so. IMultiludes of re- 
spectable proj)rielors of slaves, as heartily 
wish the country rid of them, as I do. 

Charles, Then why do they not let theui 
go free ? 

Mr. G. Because, they are rnen of bene- 
volence and humanity. What, think you, 
would become of the poor slaves, if their mas- 
ters aU over the country shouhi say to ihem, 
Go your way, to-morrow you must leave my 
plantation, and take care of yourselves ? VVjjy 
Charles, I do not tliink a master could do a 
more crueJ thing ; a father might as well say 
to his children under fourteen, you must leave 
me to-morrow. Indeed, the children would 
not be so likely If) suffer, as the slaves. A 
gentleman from the west not long since told 
me lie met a company of slaves, or rather 
free colored persons, who had recently been 
emancipated, by a well meaning but an inju- 
dicious owner, and a more miserable company 
of human beings he had never seen ; nobody 
wished to hire, or harbor tliem. They were 
destitute of home or friends, and knew not 
what to do, or where to go. Hundreds, if 
not thousands, have been offered to the man- 
agers of the Colonization Society, on condi- 



180 CLAIMS OF THE AFKICANS. 

tion they would remove them to Africa — and 
funds alone are wanting to send away thous- 
ands every year. 

Charles. I never thought of the condition 
of slaves in this country, in case tliey had 
their freedom. I thought every body blamed 
the southern people for keeping slaves. 

Mr. G. They have been censured often 
times most unjustly. Before the revolution, 
Virginia won! J most gladly have prevented 
the admission of a single slave into her State. 
1 have seen a remonstrance addressed to the 
king of England by the house of Burgesses in 
that State, praying him to enact laws which 
should check, or wholly prevent the diaboli- 
cal trafhc in human beings ; and that State 
has always been prompt in her measures to 
suppress this enormity. And when her efforts 
failed to root out the evil, she has exerted 
herself lo mitigate it. Twenty-one of the 
States have expressed their approbation of 
the Colonization Society, and have recom- 
mended its object to the patronage of the 
national government. Among these States 
are Georgia, Kentucky, Virginia, Maryland, 
and sofne other slave holding States, as well 
as the eastern. The whole community is 
daily becoming more and more acquainted 
with the evils attendant on slavery, and are 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 181 

uniting their strength and wisdom to bunisli it 
froiii tiie world. There is not that ditierence 
of sentiment between slave owners and other 
men, when ihey sit down to discuss the sub- 
ject in a calm, dispassionate way, lliat lias 
generally been supposed. Slavery must come 
to an end gradually, in the United States, and 
if the system of colonizing could go on. as 
rapidly as it might with safety, there would 
not be a slave in the Union at the end oi 
fifty years. 

Charles. Why father,, how could that be ; 
how many are there in the country nov^ ? 

Mr, G. Nearly two millions and a half. 

Charles. How large is the number of free 
blacks ? 

-Mr. G. Three hundred thousand, and the 
annual increase is seven or eight thousand. 

Janette. And how many of them are now 
at Liberia ? 

Mr. G. Not far from two thousand. 

Charles* If the Colonization Society have 
been ten years removing two thousand, how 
many times fifty years, Pa', w^ill it take to re- 
move two millions and a half? 

Mr_. G. The Colonization Society never 
expected to accomplish this Herculean task 
unaided by the state and national govern- 
ments. That Society has embarked in a grea<- 



182 CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS, 

enterprize, and with the blessing of God has 
achieved wonders, considering the obstacles 
it has had to encounter, and the scantiness of 
the funds it has been able to raise. 

Charles. How large is their annual in- 
come ? 

Mr. G. It has varied ; — but a few years 
past, it has been gaining rapidly. In 1830, it 
was twenty-eight thousand dollars ; the year 
before, twenty thousand ; and a iew years 
ago, only four thousand. A plan was laid, 
some years since, by Mr. Gerrit Smith of 
Peterboro', New York, for raising one hun- 
dred thousand dollars in ten years, each sub- 
scriber pledging himself to pay annually, one 
hundred dollars for ten years. 

Charles. How many subscribers has Mr. 
Smith obtained ^ 

Mr. G. About thirty. 

Janette. Have any ladies subscribed ? 

Mr. G. Yes, two ; Mrs. Carrington, and 
Mrs. Fontain. The ladies have recently be- 
come quite engaged for the Coloiiizalion So- 
ciety. A Juvenile Society was formed some 
time since at IMiddletown, in Connecticut, and 
tlie little girls there have done themselves 
great credit by their efforts for the poor Afri- 
cans. 

Caroline. Not long since, the ladies of 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 183 

Baltimore held a Fai?-, at which they receiv- 
ed two thousand five hundred dollars, and 
paid it over to the Colonization Society — and 
the ladies at Charlotiesville had one at which 
they received five hundred dollars, and paid 
it over to the same Society. A Society has 
been formed among the females at Frede- 
ricksburg ; and anoilier at Falmouth, which 
is auxiliary to the Parent Society ; within 
fifteen monihs the last named Society has paid 
into the ti-easury five hundred dollars — and a 
society of young ladies in Hartford, Connec- 
ticut, purchased a library for the girls' school, 
at Monrovia, which contained one hundred 
volumes. 

Charles. Do you know of any little boys' 
society, to aid the emigrants ^ 

Caroline. I do not now recollect any ex- 
cept the Juvenile Debating Society, in Vir- 
ginia ; they send all the funds ihey can se- 
cure, to the Society. O yes, 1 can think of 
one more at Brooklyn, New York, and ano- 
ther at Georgetown, and one at Cincinnati, — 
the two last are composed of males and fe- 
males. At the lime the synod of Virginia 
recommended the building of a Presbyterian 
chapel at Liberia, a subscription was opened 
upon the spot, and one hundred and sixty 
dollars collected in money and jewels. A 



184 CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 

little orphan girl, of five years old, after hear- 
ing a conversation on the subject, went and 
brought ont her little money-box, which con- 
tained only six cents, and as she poured them 
out to s,ive to the object, she said, 'This is all 
the money I have got,' grieved that she could 
not give more. 

Mr. G. If all the children in the United 
States would give six cents each, we should 
be able to send thousands to Africa this year. 

Cliai'les. Where should we get ships to 
carry them ? 

Mr. G. A subscription has been opened 
to raise twenty thousand dollars to purchase a 
ship for the Society to transport her colonists, 
and a considerable part of it has been realiz- 
ed. When Congress takes up the subject, 
and the superintendents, teachers and schol- 
ars in the Sabbath schools feel as they ought 
for the oppressed and degraded people of 
color — ships and captains, provisions, tools, 
clothes, medicines, hooks and furniture will 
flow in fro!n all quarters, as well as money. 
Generous, benevolent and pious slave owners 
will bring them forward as emigrants, and Li- 
beria will increase her population even faster 
than Lowell, in this region. 

Charles. But how can Africa hold all our 
colored people ? 






CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 185 

Mr. G. If Africa could be civilized, and 
Christianized, her agriculture and commerce 
would sustain an immense population. You 
know there is Hayti, Madagascar, and other 
islands where the African's complexion will 
not subject him to neglect. 

Charles. How much money, Pa', will it 
take to remove all that would like to go the 
present year 'f 

Mr. G. I cannot tell ; but I suppose one 
hundred and fifty thousand dollars would re- 
move the annual increase of free blacks — and 
nearly one million of dollars to remove the 
annual increase of the whole slave population. 
But who would be unwilling to have our gov- 
ernment make such appropriations ? 

Caroline. Surely not any one who loves 
his God, or his country. 

Mr. G. When I look at the resources of 
the nation, and look at her paltry debt, and 
revenue of from fifteen to twenty millions, it 
dwindles to an atom in comparison of the 
great and glorious object to be attained by 
the expenditure. 

Caroline. Do you not believe that com- 
merce in the productions of Africa would en- 
rich the American nation more than slaves ^ 

Mr. G. It would if the slave trade could 
be annihilated ; but so long as the African 
16 



1S6 CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 

chieftains and traders, can find purchasers, 
they will sell slaves. 

Charles. Cannot the slave trade be put 
down ? 

Mr. G. Yes, it might, if a (ew light arm- 
ed vessels were stationed on the coast, to be 
relieved occasionally by others — and by the 
influence of Christian colonies on the coast, 
and missionary stations in the country. These 
combined, would doubtless banisli slave buy- 
ers and sellers. 

Caroline. Do you suppose Americans 
have been engaged in it since the law made 
it piracy ^ 

Mr. G. Yes; until 1820 a great part of 
the trade was covered by the American flag, 
and much of it owned by American citizens, 
and to this day it is believed that many 
Americans are directly or remotely en- 
gaged in this abominable trade. Since 1820, 
slave ships of every nation usually hoist the 
French flag. 

Janette. How niany slaves are carried off 
in a year ^ 

Mr. G. In 1821, not less than two hun- 
dred thousand slaves were carried from the 
coast of Africa in ships under the colors of 
France. 

Charles. What part has England acted ? 



GLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 187 

Mr. G. The English parliament abolish- 
ed slavery in 1807, but the penalties have not 
been sufficient to deter unprincipled men from 
engagins; in it as deeply as ever. 

Charles. Wliat further has been done to 
check it in that country ? 

Mr. G. Parliament 'enacted that every 
person residing within the British dominions, 
who should in any wise be concerned in the 
slave trade, should be deemed a felon, and 
might be punished by transportation not ex- 
ceeding fourteen years,' and thus the English 
law now stands. If I had time, I would tell 
you what a series of efforts have been made 
by British Christians to abolish this wicked 
traffic within the last fifty years. 

Charles, Do stop long enough to relate 
part of them, Pa\ 

Mr. G. So long ago as the limes of the 
Rev. Richard Baxter, and George Fox, the 
venerable founder of the Quaker sect, Eng- 
land has been forward in all plans to check 
and abolish this dreadful traffic. 

Caroline. I have often heard Mr. Bene- 
zet alluded too, but I never heard anytliing 
more of liim than that he was a quaker and a 
friend of tiie Africans. 

Mr. G. You ought to know more of him, 
and I will tell you a little of his history. He 



188 CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 

was born at St. Quintin, in Picardy, in the 
year 1713. His father was a protestant, who 
fled to Holland in the great persecution that 
followed the revocation of the edict of Nantz. 
From Holland he went to England, and set- 
tled in London, when Anthony was two years 
old. Having received a liberal education, 
Anthony engaged in mercantile business, and 
in 1731, he removed to America, and settled 
at Philadelphia. He early became zealously 
devoted to the cause of Africa, and with an 
excellent spirit, wrote several tracts, and arti- 
cles for almanacs, in which he first question- 
ed the lawfulness of slavery. From small 
things, he proceeded to greater, till he had 
published three or four books of considerable 
size, all connected with Africa, and the slave 
trade. He wrote a letter to Elizabeth, queen 
of England, which was well received, — and 
another to the countess of Huntingdon. In 
short, if 1 should tell you all his good deeds 
that came to light years ago, it would take 
me all night. Dr. Rush believed that he ac- 
complished inore for the deliverance of Africa 
than any other man ; but I do not like to hear 
one man loaded wilii praises that equally be- 
longs to a dozen others engaged with him in 
the same exertions. Perhaps Dr. Franklin, 
Judjie Sewall, Dr. Thornton, Dr. Rush, and 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 189 

Dr. Finley, and twenty oilier American wor- 
thies, felt as much for the wrongs of Africa, as 
the excellent Anthony Benezet. England 
produced a host of advocates for tlie oppressed 
slaves, among them, the names of Whiifield, 
Wesley, Wilberforce, Fox and Pitt, Gran- 
ville Sharp, and the Clarksons, will never be 
forgotten so long as the continent of Africa 
endnres. 1 will notice Air. Granville Sharp, 
particularly. 

Charles. Who was he, Pa' ? 

JMr. G. An English gentleman, of easy 
fortune, and unbounded benevolence, whose 
mind was led to reflect upon the hard case of 
the poor slaves, from the moment his brother 
William Sharp, who was a surgeon, introduc- 
ed to his notice a slave named Jonathan 
Strong, whom he was laboring to cure. 

Janette. Where did the surgeon find this 
slave ? 

Mr. G. Before 1 tell you, I must go back 
to the year 1700, at which time several of 
the West India planters having amassed for- 
tunes, returned to England, bringing wiili them 
slaves to act as servants. When these poor 
creatures saw the freedom and hajipiness of 
English servants, and thought of all they had 
suffered, and should continue to sufier when 
they went back, they often ran away. The 
16* 



190 CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 

friends of the slave trade pretended that the 
laws would not protect these runaways. 

It was asserted by sonrie, indeed by a great 
many, that baptism made all free, who sub- 
mitted to the ordinance. In consequence of 
the last assertion, poor slaves flocked to the 
ministers for baptism, and whenever they pro- 
cured god-fathers, the rite was performed. 
Those who ran away, were pursued, and usu- 
ally siezed by those who claimed them as 
their property. The slaves sent for their 
sponsors to protect and defend then] ; and for 
a tinje the god-failiers (who were always op- 
posers to slavery) would dare the masters to 
carry them out of the kingdom. 

In these circumstances, the merchants and 
planters knew not what to do. They knew 
that public opinion would not suffer them to 
carry off a slave by force, and they feared to 
bring any one of the cases before a public 
court. At length, in 1729, they applied to 
the attorney and solicitor generals, who gave 
in the opinion that masters might legally com- 
pel their slaves to go back to their planta- 
tions ; that coming to England, or being bap- 
tised, did not in the least affect their freedom. 
These opinions were made as public as possi- 
ble, and in a little time numerous slaves were 
advertised in the London newspapers just as 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 191 

they are in the slave States in America. The 
auctioneers also advertised them with oxen, 
horses, and carriages. 

Janettz. I have seen such advertisements 
in southern newspapers, a hundred times. 

Mr. G. These tilings hastened the resto- 
ration of the slave trade to its wonted vigor, for 
it had somewhat declined for a little v\hile. In 
a few years it was openly espoused, and enter- 
ed into by large numbers with the greatest zeal 
imaginable. While this shameful trade seem- 
ed in the height of prosperity, a Mr. Lisle 
came over from Barbadoes, and brotight with 
him the slave I alluded to. 

Clara. .Jonathan Strong, Pa' .^ 

Mr. G. Yes. Lisle took lodgings at Wap- 
ping, where he treated this poor African in 
the most cruel and barbarous manner. On 
one occasion, he beat him over the head with 
a large pistol, till his head swelled in the most 
alarming degree. When the swelling abated, 
disease fell into his eyes, no doubt in conse- 
querice of the blows, and he became blind ; 
an ague and fever followed, which brought on 
a lameness in both his legs. 

In these deplorable circiuTistances, utterly 
useless, the infamous Lisle deserted him. 
The poor creature hearing of the kind and 
charitable disposition of iMr. Sharp the sur- 



192 CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 

geon, contrived to apply to him for advice. 
Mr. Granville Sharp met him at his hrother's, 
and was touched with feelings of compassion 
for Jonathan, and indignation towards the 
cruel Lisle. While his hrolher was perform- 
ing a cure, Mr. G. Sliarp supported the poor 
slave, and when he was well, he procured 
him a o:ood situation with an apothecary, who 
employed him to carry out medicines. Wlien 
Jonathan had hecome rohust and healthy, 
Lisle discovered, and claimed him as his 
slave, or rather he decoyed him to a public 
house, seized him, and sold him to a man for 
thirty pounds. Strong sent for his god-Auh- 
ers, hut they could not rescue him ; he then 
sent for Mr. Granville Sharp, who immediate- 
ly came, and after going through a long pro- 
cess, got him discharged. But no sooner 

was he at liberty, than a Captain L — laid 

his hand upon Strong, saying, aloud, " Then 
I seize him as my slave." Mr. Sharp was 
within hearing, and putting his hand on the 
captain's shoulder, said in an auihorative 
voice, "I charge you in the name of the king, 
with an assault upon the person of Jonathan 
Strong, and all these are my witnesses." — 
These words so intimidated the captain, that 
he let go his prisoner, and Mr. Sharp took 
poor Jonathan home with him. Mr. Sharp 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 193 

foresaw much difficulty, and resolved to as- 
certain the full meaning of the English law, 
with regard to slaves. He applied to judge 
Blackstone, but not getting satisfaction, he 
resolved to sit down and study the English 
laws for himself. He therefore gave up two 
or three years to this object, and then wrote 
a book entitled, "A Representation of the In- 
justice and dangerous Tendency of Tolerating 
Slavery in England." By this time, his heart 
became so deeply interested for the poor 
oppressed Africans, that he gave himself up 
almost entirely to lay plans for their benefit. 
In 1768, another case offered, which he wish- 
ed to have tried. Hylas, a slave, prosecuted 
a man for stealing his wife, and sending her 
to the West Indies. 

Janetie. Cruel wretch ! did they not hang 
him, Pa'. ^ 

Mr. G. No — he was fined one shilling, 
and ordered to bring back Hylas's wife, in 
the next ship. Two years afterwards, ano- 
ther case came out. Five men seized upon 
Thomas Lewis, a slave, one dark night, and 
dragged him on board a boat, and then tied 
him, putting a gag in his mouth to prevent 
his calling for help, and rowed him to a ship, 
put him on board to go to Jamaica, to be sold 
to the planters. 



194 CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 

Charles. Was not he kidnapped, Pa' ? 

Mr. G. Yes, as much so as if he had 
been stolen in Africa. 

This infamous affair happened close by the 
garden of Sir Joseph Banks' motl.>cr. When 
Lewis was first caught, he screamed violent- 
ly, and the servants of Mrs. l^anks ran to his 
help, but alas, loo late, for the boat had shoved 
off. As soon as their mistress heard of it, she 
sent for Mr. Granville Sharp, who began to 
be well known as the friend of the friendless 
slave. He took out a writ, the oppressors 
were defeated in this and several other cases 
which soon followed. But Mr. Sharp felt 
anxious to have a case tried upon the broad 
ground, " Whether an African slave, coming 
into Er]gland, became free ^ " 

Charles. Did such a case occur, Pa'. 

Mr. G. Yes; in 1769, a Mr. Stewart 
brought his slave, Somerset, to England, who 
left his master soon afterwards. Somerset 
was seized, and conveyed on board a ship 
to be sent to Jamaica, and sold for a slave. 
When the trial of this case came on, the ques- 
tion was, " Whether a slave, by coming into 
England, became free .^" This case was ar- 
gued, at the different sittings of the court, and 
the glorious result of the trial, was, " That as 
soon as any slave set his foot upon English 



CLALMS OF THE AFRICANS. 195 

territory, be becanie free." This case was 
decided, after the most deliberate discussions, 
and while the constitution of Enj^land re- 
mains, can never be reversed. After this vic- 
tory, Mr. Sharp wrote to Lord North, then 
minister of stale, urging him to exert all his 
influence for the abolition of slavery a^d the 
slave trade, as they were equally irreconcila- 
ble with the principles of the gospel, and the 
constitution of England. 

I could spend hours in detailing facts con- 
nected with the life and labors of this great 
and good man, but what I have said must 
suffice for the present. 

Janette. Pa', do you not think slaves were 
worse used in England, than they ever have 
been in the United Slates ^ 

Mr. G. That is a difficult question to an- 
swer. Slavery is an evil, the extent of which, 
those who have never shared or witnessed 
its horrors, have but the faintest conceptions. 
However, 1 make no doubt but slaves, both 
in England and America, fared ten thousand 
times better than the poor wretches in ihe 
West India Islands. I have heard it remark- 
ed by some one, that there was not more 
difference between the American farmer and 
an Irish peasant, than between an American 
slave and one in the West Indies. 



196 CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS 

Caroline. I am astonished that Congress 
did not banish it from the land when the fed- 
eral constitution was framed. 

M?'. G. You know slavery existed in this 
country long before the war of the revolution, 
and at the time of framing our constitution, the 
habits and means of carrying on industry in 
many sections of the country could not sud- 
denly be changed ; therefore the constitution 
yielded to the provision, that the " migration 
or importation of such persons as any of the 
States thought proper to admit, should not be 
forbidden by Congress until ISOS;" a period 
of twenty years. Congress had legislated 
upon the subject long before the constitution 
was adopted, and endeavored to suppress the 
hated traffic by a system of rigorous penal- 
ties. 

Caroline. What kind of punishments were 
resorted to ? 

Mr. G. Forfeitures of vessels, long impris- 
onments, and heavy fines ; and yet the whole 
catalogue of punishments would not avail to 
stop the unnatural trade ; and even the law as 
it now stands, which brands every citizen 
engaged in this trade a pirate, and makes his 
punishment death., has not put a final stop to 
this disgraceful business.^ 

Caroline. Were slave owners disposed to im- 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 197 

prove the condition of their slaves, how could 
it be done safely f for if they were educated 
they could not be kept under such strict sub- 
ordination as they now are ; and if it be true 
that knowledge is power, the moment they are 
enlightened, they would be likely to exert it. 

M7\ G. I think if I had slaves, I would 
endeavor to prepare them for gradual emanci- 
pation. I certainly would provide for their 
moral and religious instruction ; and should not 
fear to train them up to read, write, and cipher, 
which would qualify them for freemen ; and 
then I would offer ihem to the Colonization 
Society, two or three at a time, and when they 
understood that I was actuated by a desire to 
secure their interest and happiness, I believe 
while they remained in my service they would 
be far niore faithful and industrious than the 
uninstructed slaves of my neighbors. If my 
efforts to bring them to a saving knowledge of 
Christ was owned and blessed of God, I should 
be certain they would be diligent, faithful, and 
contented, for if any thing under heaven will 
reconcile men to inequalities, it is the religion 
of Christ. 

Caroline. I have heard people say, in 

excuse for their slaves living and dying in 

ignorance, that if they are taught, they will see 

the injustice of slavery, and feel their degra- 

17 



198 CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 

dation ; and when they read of successful 
resistances of oppression, a like spirit will be 
awakened in them, u\\ freedom or death would 
become the watch-woni, from one end of the 
slave holding Slates to the other. I always 
fell thankful tliat not one of my relations ever 
bought or sold a slave, or acquired any of their 
property by the labor of slaves. 

Mr. G. I esteem it a mercy that I have 
never been in circumstances of temptation to 
engage in this guilty commerce. If 1 had, I 
do nox know how soon my scruples would 
have vanished. I remember the story of 
Hazael, who said, " Is thy servant a dog, that 
he should do this thing.'"' 

Charles. Pa', from what parts of Africa do 
you suppose those two hundred thousand slaves 
were taken, that were carried off under the 
French flag in 1821 .? 

Mr. G. It is probable that a great part of 
them went from ihe rivers Calabar and Bonny. 
Vast numbers have been sent from those places. 
The Galinas and the Rio Pongas are almost 
as famous for their slave merchants, as those 
rivers. I think you may find all those places 
on the map of Liberia. Did you ever hear 
about ihe massacre at Calabar.^ 

Children. No, Sir, never. 

Mr. G, In 1767, six English ships lay in 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 199 

the river Calabar. At the time, a quarrel 
subsisted between the principal persons oftvvo 
adjoiuing villages, called New Town and Old 
Town. 

Janette. What occasioned the quarrel ? 

Mr. G. It had its origin in mutual jeal- 
ousies respecting slave dealing. Tiie captains 
of these six slave ships sent letters to the chiefs 
of Old Town, offering to act as mediators, and 
bring about a peace. 

The people of Old Town, pleased with the 
thought of peace, joyfully accepted the invita- 
tion of the ca|)tains to go on board their ships, 
to be defended and protected till the treaty- 
should be ratified. By this means, those 
wicked men allured the grandee, his three 
brothers, nearly thirty of his attendants, and 
nine large canoes, filled with the highest of his 
subjects, on board their ship, called the Indian 
Queen. The next morning they were sent to 
the Edgar, the name of another vessel, and 
afterwards to the ship Duke of York, where 
they were received with much attention. The 
grandee and his brothers went down into the 
cabin, and the rest of his people remained on 
the deck, and in the canoes along side. In the 
most sudden and unexpected manner, the 
officers and crew, armed with cutlasses and 
pistols, rushed into the cabin, which greatly 



200 CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 

alarmed their unsuspecting guests, who imme- 
diately attempted to escape through the cabin 
windows, but the blows and wounds they 
received, compelled them to submit to be put 
in irons. While this scene was passing in i[ie 
cabin, the people iji the canoes were fired 
upon, a few of the attendants seized, many 
others killed or drowned, and the canoes sunk. 
The infamous example of the Duke of York 
was followed by all the other ships, which had 
allured the greatest part of the people of Old 
Town to come out to their vessels, upon the 
same plausible errand. Three hundred of the 
inhabitants of that ill-fated town perished. 

Caroline. What could have instigated 
them to such savage deeds ? 

Mr. G. You shall hear. This cruel 
scene had hardly passed, when a canoe filled 
with the principal personages of the other vil- 
lage, (wlio had concerted this wicked plot 
with the English captain,) came along side of 
the Duke of York, and demanded the eldest 
brother of the grandee of Old Town. The 
poor man besought the cruel captain upon his 
knees to save his life, and not deliver him into 
the hands of his enemy. But in vain ; the 
captain exchanged this nobleman for a slave 
named Econg, and then let him down into a 
canoe, where his head was struck off in sight 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 201 

of his weeping brothers, and of llie whole 
ship's crew. 

Children. O dear ! what became of the 
grandee, and !iis youngest brotiier, and the rest 
of his friends ? 

Mr. G. They were all carried to the 
West Indies and sold for slaves. 

Janette. Are all slave captains cruel ^ 

Mr. G. If 1 should tell you some of their 
cruelties which 1 have read of, I hardly think 
you would go to sleep to-night. 

Charles. Pa', I had rather lay awake than 
not hear them. 

Mr. G. The captain of the slave ship 
Alfred, treated one of his sailors so cruelly, that 
the young man said he often lonii^ed to die, 
and more than once threw himself overboard 
to escape the torments they inflicted upon 
him. The last time they took him out of the 
water, they chained him to the deck of the 
ship, night and day, till he was nearly exhaust- 
ed. However, he returned to Bristol, in Eng- 
land, from which port he had sailed, and there 
Mr. Clarkson found him in the most miserable 
condition you can imagine. He was confined 
to his bed, delirious, crying out to all the by- 
standers to pity and befriend him, and then he 
would inquire if they meant to take the cap- 
tain's part, and intended to aid in killing him. 
17* 



202 CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 

His limbs were in llie most ulcerated state, 
and his sufferings so great that he died in 
about a week after Mr. Clarkson's visit, as 
was believed solely in consequence of the 
abusive treatment of the captain and his 
officers. 

Charles. Did he treat any other of his 
crew as bad ^ 

Mr. G. Another sailor, named Dixon, had 
his under lip cut in two by a blow from the 
same captain, and Pyke, another, had his arm 
broken by the first mate, while receiving a 
most cruel flogging, and another poor felk)w 
died from blows given him with a knotted rope 
by the captain. 

Charles. Were these sailers more wicked 
than the others.^ 

Mr. G. No ; they were men of as good 
moral character as the generality of seamen. 

Charles. Did such captains and mates steer 
clear of the law? 

Mr. G. This vile cai)tain and his mate 
had once been tried for murder in the island 
of Barbadoes, and only escaped by bribing the 
principal witness to disappear. 

Janette. Pa', why will sailors go out in 
slave ships.'' they must know that such captains 
are very w-icked and cruel men. 

Mr. G. A great many of them are de- 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 203 

Ceiived, and do not suspect ibey are going after 
•slaves, and the rest are induced logo from the 
promise of enormous wages, which they sel- 
dom ever receive, if they live to return ; but 
thousands of (hem never do return. 

Janette. Do they die in Africa ? 

Mr. G. A large number die there, and 
€n the passage ; and many are left at the 
islands where the slaves are carried to be sold. 
There they suffer every thing but death, before 
they ever see their home again ; one fifth of 
the sailors engaged in this traffic, perish every 
year. 

Caroline. Why are not such captains pros- 
ecuted f 

Mr. G. The slave trade is carried on so 
extensively, and those engaged in it have so 
many methods to escape detection and punish- 
ment, that it is next to impossible to bring 
them to a trial. Sailors only can be witnesses, 
and the merchants and slave dealers generally 
contrive to decoy them away the moment 
they discover any measures in train to bring 
them to justice ; in short, look at this horrid 
trade in whatever light you please, it is a series 
of crime and iniquity from bei^inning to end. I 
question if there is a slave captain to be found, 
who has not been guilty of such atrocious 



204 CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 

wickedness, that he would shudder to have bis 
life investigated before any earthly tribunal. 

Caroline. Then how will they endure the 
scrutiny of iheir final judge? 

Mr. G. That is a question 1 fear they 
seldom propose to themselves. 

Caroline. Do you not think such enormi- 
ties are more rare nowadays thafl formerly ? 

J\lr. G. I suppose that the same bloody 
tragedies are acted over every year, wherever 
this inhuman traffic is carried on, as frequently 
as in former days, 

Charles. Father, have you told us all the 
cruel slave stories that you have ever heard ? 

Mr. G. No, my son ; 1 could not relate 
them all in a week. 

Janette. Then do tell us more, and I will 
make the girls in my school acquainted with 
them, and then we will form a society to aid 
the Colonization Society, for that you say is 
to put down slavery, and the slave trade. 

Mr. G. That's a good girl ; if you and 
Charles, and other children awake to the 
claims of Afiica and the Colonization Society, 
rny object in telling you these stories will be 
accomplished. 1 will add a few more short 
ones to-night, and h^ave Caroline to relate any 
that she may have heard. 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. OQS 

In 1783, Captain Collingvvood went to Af- 
rica in the ship Zone, for slaves. He obtained 
a large cargo, but many of them died. Tlie 
captain and mate conferred together, and at 
last the captain proposed to tlirow tiie feeble 
and sickly overboard, and frame a story that 
should make it appear they came to their 
end by misfortune or accident, and not by 
a natural death ; and thereby bring the loss 
ypon those who insured the ship, instead of 
the owners. 

The mate agreed to the proposal, and over 
a hundred and thirty of the most feeble were 
selected. The first day they threw into the 
sea fifty of them ; the second day forty, and 
the next day the remainder were brought on 
deck to share the same fate ; sixteen were 
thrown overboard without making the least re- 
sistance. The remaining ten forbade the cap- 
tain or one of the crew to touch them, and for 
a moment resisted, but finding it in vain, they 
leapt over themselves into the same watery 
grave after their companions. 

Caroline. Why did the captain wish to 
favor the owners rather than the insurers? 
' Mr. G. 1 presume he shared the jirofits 
of the voyage with the owners. This captain 
was but very litde more cruel than the one 
who commanded the ship Two Brothers, from 



206 CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 

Bristol, about the same time. One of his 
crew, named John Dean, innocently gave 
some trifling offence to one of the oflJicers, 
vvliich put the captain in a rage, and John was 
ordered lo be lied down upon tiie deck, flat 
upon his belly, and the demon-like ca[)tain 
took hot pitch, and poured it over his naked 
back, and then made incisions in it with red 
hot tongs. 

Charles. What was done to the wretch ^ 
J\lr. G. He was prosecuted, and compel- 
led to procure bondsmen to pay whatever dam- 
ages tnight be awarded by the court, and then 
allowed to sail again upon the same execrable 
business. 

Mr. Clarkson found a surgeon's mate who 
had made two voyages to Africa in slave ships. 
In one of them eleven of the sailors deserted, 
and nine died ; every one of them experienced 
the most abusive treatment ; and nothing 
could be more dreadful than the cruelties 
practised upon the slaves during tlie voyage. 
On one occasion, they tried lo force their way 
out of their irons, but were instantly fired upon 
by order of the captain. One was shot throu2:h 
the heart for being restive. Another refused 
to cotne up out of the hold when called, and 
scalding fat and water was poured down upon 
his naked body through the gratings till his tor- 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 207 

ments became insupportable ; be then prom- 
ised to come up, and was solemnly assured 
that no further injury should be done iiim. 
He came up, but seeing an armed man stand 
ready to receive him, be grasped him, and 
received the fire of a pistol ; but dodged so 
that the ball passed him, but he instantly was 
levelled with the butt end of a musket, which 
proved his death. The rest of the cargo was 
carried to St. Vincents for sale. Among them 
was a boy slave, very ill and thin ; the mate 
refused to let him appear at the market, fear- 
ing his sickly appearance might hurt the sale 
of the others ; and knowing he would fetch 
little or nothing if offered at auction, he left 
him in the ship without one particle of food, 
where he languished nine days, and died of 
starvation. 

Janette. Pa', why is it that slave captains 
are so much more cruel and wicked than other 
men ? 

Mr. G. I suppose it is because they are 
more familiar with misery in its most dreadful 
forms, than other men. Some men of tender 
feelings have been tempted from love of money 
to make one voyage in the capacity of captain. 
Their feelings became callous, and they felt 
little reluctance to go a second ; and having 
made three or four, their natures seem to un- 



208 CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 

dergo an entire change, and they become 
ferocious if not blood-thirsty. Why my dear 
children, I do not suppose it would be possible 
for you and I to watch for opportunities to 
steal and carry off helpless women and 
children, and chain them down in the hold of 
a ship, and see their tears, and hear all their 
shrieks and groans, till many of them died of 
fear and despair, without having our hearts 
grow very hard and cruel. 

Charles. Pa', we never could be so cruel. 

Mr. G. Almost every man dislikes the 
business at first, but after a few years, they 
become such monsters of cruelty, it is difficult 
to realize they ever were humane and kind. 
But I should not dare to say I would not one 
day be as hardened and depraved as the cap- 
tain with whom Peter Green sailed, if I should 
yield to temptation and go one voyage. 

Children. Who was Petep Green ? 

Mr. G. He we^s steward of a slave ship, 
whicb sailed from Liverpool in 1786. A 
black woman went out in the same ship as an 
interpretress to the slaves after the cargo 
should be put on board. She was the prop- 
erty of the owners, and was almost as wicked. 
One afternoon, while the captain was on shore, 
the negress asked Peter for the pantry keys, 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 209 

which he refused to give her, hecause he had 
more than once had a severe flogging for giv- 
ing her admission to the wine, of which she 
ahvays made too free, whenever an opportu- 
nity offered. She flew into a great passion 
and struck Green. Soon afteruards she be- 
came sullen, but sat quiet until the captain 
returned, when she cried out against Peter for 
a personal assault. The captain asked no 
questions, but ordered Green's hands to be 
tied to an iron bolt in the side of the ship, and 
with a cat-o'-nine-tails in one hand, and a 
double walled knot in the other, he beat the 
poor steward, first on the back and then on 
the head, till from fatigue he was obliged to 
rest. Poor Green, in an agony, called upon 
all wilhin hearing to help, and to show mercy, 
but taunting ansu^ers were all that he received 
from them, except a coniinuation of blows 
from the captain and both mates, who repeated 
them till their lashes were worn to threads. 

Another instrument was brought, and the 
savage captain laid on with all his strength, 
cursing his left hand because it could not deal 
so heavy a blow as the right. 

Children. O Pa', do not tell any more ; 
this is too shocking ! 

Caroline. Shocking as it is, I wish to know 
the result. 

18 



I 



210 CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 

Mr. G. The miserable man was after- 
wards manacled, and, just at dark, lowered 
down into a boat, vvliere in a short time he 
died. 

Caroline. This captain mnst have exceeded 
all others in wickedness. Wliat punishment 
was inflicted upon the impious wretch.^ 

Mr. G. A faint effort was made to bring 
the murderers before the public, but so deep- 
ly involved in guilt, connected with the slave 
trade, were the magistrates, and the greater 
part of the community, that nothing could be 
effected. 

Here Mr. Granville was called out by one 
of bis clients. 



I 



CHAPTER X. 

Ye heralds of a Saviour's love, 

To Afric's region fly ; 
haste, and let compassion move 

For millions doomed to die. 

"Annt Caroline," said Janette, as soon as 
the door closed upon her father, "do you 
believe there is any thin^ in this country con- 
nected with slavery, that is like the horrid 
stoiies father has been relating?" 

Caroline. Yes, Janette, I do, if they were 
brought to light ; but 1 trust the instances 
of extreme cruelty are rare. It is but a little 
time since three beautiful mulatto children 
were kidna()ped (stolen) in Tennessee, and 
carried into Missouri and sold ! And I have 
heard pers^ons of great respectability describe 
scenes in New Orleans, of which they were 
eye-witnesses, that might disgrace a West In- 
dian plantation. 

Charles. Have those persons who have 
gone to Liberia witnessed such thingsjn Africa 
as we have been hearing.^ 

Caroline. Yes; all accounts from Africa 



212 CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 

and the West Indies agree. I do not think 
any that your father has related have been in 
the least exaggerated. In the VV^est Indies 
such scenes are daily passing as would fill 
your heart with anguish. An overseer of a 
}3lantation, became angry at one of the slaves, 
and caught him up in his rage, and threw him 
into a copper of boiling cane-juice. 

Charles. He deserved to have been hang- 
ed the next hour. 

Caroline. He was never hanged ; the only 
punishment he suffered was the loss of his sit- 
uation, and the payment of the price of the 
slave. 

Janeite. Are none of the slave murderers 
ever tried ? 

Caroline. Yes ; but they are seldom con- 
victed. A young girl, about fourteen, delayed 
going to her task, and for the crime of loiter- 
ing, was whipped with so much severity, that 
she fell down and lay motionless some time. 
She was then dragged by her heels to a hospi- 
tal ; where she died immediately. In this 
case there was a trial, but her owner was 
acquitted on the ground of improbability that 
a man would destroy his own property. O 
we do not know the excesses which unprinci- 
pled men are left to commit, when placed in 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 213 

circumstances to unite in their own persons, 
party ^ judge, and executioner. 

Mrs. G. I do not wonder that President 
Jefterson snid, " I Irenible for tny coLMilry, 
wl)en I remember tlial God is just — llial his 
justice cannot sleep forever." 

Caroline. Neiiiier do 1. How very hard- 
ened those men must be, who will carry on 
this guilty trade in human beings in the midst 
of all the light that now shines over the whole 
of these United States. And yet, almost in 
sight of Monrovia, Americans have contracted 
for slaves enough to fill two ships within a 
very few months. 

Be assured ours is a guilty land. I pre- 
sume the extent to which our citizens are 
engaged in robbing Africa of her ciiildren are 
known to few if any. 

Janette. Aunt Caroline, where can the 
slave traders get so many natives so near Li- 
beria ^ 

Caroline. They are brought from a great 
distance. White traders in various parts of 
Africa instigate the Moors to fall u|)on the 
negroes, who take multitudes, and bring them 
to the slave factories on the coast. The kings 
of many nations in the interior fit out expedi- 
tions for no other purpose but to take slaves ; 
much as the fur-traders, in this country fit out 
18* • 



214 CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 

bunting expeditions to obtain the skins of an- 
infials. 

Charles. Do the kings find tiieir subjects 
willing to go out for such an object ? 

Caroline. Yes ; for tlie natives have become 
so shamefully avaricious, that some of them 
will sell their own parents, and one gentleman 
said, that a woman offered to sell him her 
babe, and abused him outrageously because 
he refused to buy it. Tiie natives have been 
known to invite company to visit them, and 
then treacherously detain them, till they could 
sell them for slaves. You would feel aston- 
ished to know how many persons have been 
carried out of that country since nearly all the 
powers of Europe have interdicted the sla^e . 
trade. In a little more than a year, it has 
been ascertained that three hundred and fifty 
cargoes of slaves have sailed from the coast. 

Charles. How many can they carry in one 
ship ? 

Caroline. The owners, and commanders 
of slave ships are so greedy of gain that they I 
sometimes stow away in the hold and between 
decks, between five and six hundred slaves in 
a vessel of less than two hundred tons burden. 
Such an one was captured, a few- years ago, 
on her voyage to Havanna, the capital of the 
island of Cuba, and it was found that one 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 215 

hundred and twenty had died after leaving the 
river Bonny, where they were shipped. 
Anodier slaver was taken before she left the 
coast with aiore than six hundred on board, 
and from the putrid state of the air, and fronn 
close crowding, about two hundred died ; and 
many of the rest never recovered from the 
sickness brought upon them by cruel treatment. 
A Portuguese brig of only one hundred and 
twenty tons, took on board six hundred slaves, 
but was captured before she had sailed eighty 
miles ; but in so short a time thirty were dead, 
and many more in a dying condition. The 
liumane captain of the ship, who took the 
slave brig, removed more than a hundred of 
the poor creatures into his own vessel, and 
thereby saved many of them alive, who must 
otherwise have died before they could have 
reached Sierra Leone. A slaver took away 
between eight and nine hundred slaves from 
Mozambique, of whom between three and four 
hundrefl died before the end of the voyage. 
It is not uncommon for a disease of the eyes, 
called opthalmia, to affect nearly the whole 
crew, which in many instances occasions the 
entire loss of one or both eyes; the pain and 
agony of this disease is unuiternhle. In a 
slave ship bound to Gaudaloup?*, a few years 
since, this disease appeared, and many of the 



216 CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 

poor slaves became totally blind, and you will 
not be sorry to hear that the cruel captain and 
surgeon lost each one eye. 

Charles. I wonder they had not lost both. 
Caroline. If they had, perhaps they would 
not have thrown all the blind slaves into the 
sea, as they did. 

Such dreadful accounts are very distressing 
to us when we read or hear about them, but 
how much more so would it be to witness 
them. Sir George Collier says, "that such is 
the merciless treatment of the slaves, by the 
persons engaged in the traffic, that no fancy 
can picture the horror of the voyage; crowd- 
ed together so as not to give the power to 
move, linked one to the ctner by the leg, 
never unfettered while life remains, or till the 
iron shall have fretted the flesh almost to the 
bone, forced under a deck, as I have seen 
them, not thirty inches in height, breathing an 
atmosphere the most putrid and pestilential 
possible, with little food and less water, subject 
also to the most severe punishment, at the 
caprice or fancy of the brute who may com- 
mand the vessel. It is to me a matter of ex- 
treme wonder, that any of these miserable 
people live the voyage through ; many of them, 
indeed, perish on the passage, and those who 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 217 

remain to meet the shore, present a 'picture of 
wretchedness, language cannot express." 

Janette. I will try to do sonielhing for 
these poor people, now 1 know so much about 
their sufferings. 1 wonder I never have heard 
more said about slavery, and the horrors of 
the slave trade. 

Caroline. The world has been slumber- 
ing over the subject for a long time, but now 
so many have awaked, that you will hear 
more and more about it, and you may rest 
assured, that young as you are, if you try to 
raise up all your acquaintance to do all their 
limited capacities will allow to promote the 
objects of the Colonization Society, they will 
excite others, so that in a short time there 
will not remain one boy or girl indifferent to 
the subject, in any Sabbath school in tlje 
United States. 

Charles. What shall I tell the boys that 
the Colonization Society intend to do, when 
every body is willing to help them ^ 

Caroline. You may tell them, that it 
wishes to establish colonies all along the 
south-west and western coast of Africa. 
Some people wish to have them purchase 
a territory in Africa, that will suit the 
constitutions of the colored people born and 
brought up in New England, and an island 



218 CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 

called Bulama in the mouth of the river Rio 
Grande has been mentioned. It is nine miles 
wide, and nineteen miles in length. The So- 
ciety would like to procure a leriitoiy at, or 
near Cape Palmas, for the colored people 
from the extreme south, if they had money. 
You know they now possess a fine country 
on the St. Paul's river, which suits the emi- 
grants from the middle States almost as well, 
as the places they left. The Society have 
from the first, framed all their " measures 
with reference to ihe €nti?^e suppression of the 
slave trade, and to a gradual and prudent, 
but complete emancipation of those now lield 
in slavery." 

Charles. If I thonght all this could ever 
be efi:ected, I would work every minute be- 
tween schools, to earn my part of the money. 

Caroline. It can, and it will be effected, , 
Charles, and there are more than ten thousand 
boys in the American Sabbath schools, that 
will probably share in the honor of hastening 
its accomplishment. 

Charles. I will be one of the first of i 
them ; and if I could, 1 would prevent anoth- J 
er slave being ever brought into the United | 
States. 

Caroline. If you cannot do all you wish, 
yet if you do all you can, and others do as 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 219 

mncli, the time will soon come wiien another 
slave will never enter a port in North or South 
America. 

Charles. Do they have slaves in South 
America ? 

Cai'oline. Yes, Charles; from 1S25 to 
1830, in the single port of Rio de Janeiro, no 
less than one hundred and fifty thousand were 
imported. As many as one hundred thou- 
sand slaves are carried every year from the 
shores of Africa. I have been told that in 
many districts, there are few inhabitants ex- 
cept old people and young boys and girls to 
be seen. The other inhabitants having been 
taken off to supply the slave markets. 

Mrs. G. If money, and labor, can hedge 
up the path of the slave dealers, 1 hope we 
shall all be willing to make liberal offerings. 

Caroline. If only one half of the money 
that has been spent in the United States for 
ardent spirits every year, were spent in carry- 
ing back to Africa the free colored people, 
and purchasing and sending back the slaves, 
there would not be left in the United Stales a 
single colored person at the end of six. or 
seven years. Or if a tax of iiine cents were 
levied upon every white person in the United 
States, it would pay for sending to Liberia at 



220 CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 

least fifty thonsand colored people a year, so 
long as the tax should be paid. 

Charles. Is there a person to be found 
who would not gladly pay such a tax ? 

Caroline. 1 hope not. Many persons have 
said that if the means of defraying the ex- 
pense of carrying the colored people to Africa 
were furnished, they would not be willing to 
go, but I cannot think so, for at this moment 
one thousand free colored people are waiting 
for an opportunity to go out this season, and 
more than six hundred slaves would be made 
free, if they could go out this winter. I have 
heard of gentleinen in North Carolina who 
have said they would emancipate three thou- 
sand of their slaves the moment they could be 
sent to Liberia. Many of the most respecta- 
ble and wealthy gentlemen in Kentucky, would ' 
be thankful to see every colored person in the 
State on their way to Africa. 

Charles. [( all the colored people in the 
United States should go to Liberia, would 
they find room enough ? 

Caroline. Not without purchasing more 
land ; for each settler who complies with the 
conditions offered by the agent, obtains quite 
a nice little farm. 

Charles. What are the conditions? 

Caroline. The colonists have to build a 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 22\ 

liouse on their land, and cultivate a portion of 
it within two years after it is assigned them, or 
they forfeit llieir gift. 

Charles, How many acres are allowed 
them f 

Caroline. Fifteen to begin with ; and if 
other conditions are complied with, I believe 
they have still more. The examples of in- 
dustry, and sobriety, which many of the 
settlers have exliibiied, have produced very 
j3leasing effects upon many of the natives 
in the vicinity. As many as ten thousand 
have put themselves under the protec- 
tion of the colony already. Some of them 
shouted for joy when the agent received 
them, and allowed them to call themselves 
Americans. 

Clara. Why did they shout ^ 

Caroline. For joy that they would no 
longer be obliged to conform to the laws and 
customs of their ancestors, nor be exposed to 
be sold for slaves. Many of the colonists 
are very respectable, and very intelligent 
men ; some of them have acquired from 
twenty to thirty thousand dollars. 

Janette. What are their names, aunt Car- 
oline ? 

Caroline. I recollect the names of Rev. 
Mr. Waring, and Mr. Devany, the high sheriff 
19 



222 CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 

of Liberia. I have heard several others men- 
tioned as being men of great enterprize and 
integrity. 

Charles. Who was Mr. Devany ? 
Caroline. I will mention a few facts re- 
specting him, and wish they were told to eve- 
ry colored person in the country. He was a 
slave in South Carolina not many years ago ; 
but having obtained his freedom, he went to 
Philadelphia and worked at sail-making with 
a colored man till he went out to Liberia. 
After his arrival, the colonial agent employed 
him to navigate a small vessel up and down 
the coast, till he laid up about two hundred 
dollars, with which he commenced trade. 
Mr. Waring is engaged in trade also. They 
sell from twenty to seventy thousand dollars 
worth of goods in a year. Mr. Devany visit- 
ed his relations in the United States not long 
since, and among other things he said there 
had never been but two or three removals 
from the colony on account of discontent ; and 
those were very worthless persons. 

Charles. I wish I could have seen him ; I 
should like to ask about the climate, and 
many other things. 

Caroline. To inquiries about the heat and 
the state of health in the colony, Mr. Devany 
said that he had never known the ihermome- 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 223 

ler rise higher than ninety-one degrees, and 
never so high but once ; that it usually ranged 
between sixty-eight and eighty-eight degrees. 
They never build chimneys in their houses, 
except in the kitchen ; but when they want a 
fire in wet and cool weather, they burn 
charcoal in little brick furnaces. He said 
colored people enjoyed as good health there, 
as in America. 

Charles, I am astonished that any of our 
colored people can live contentedly away from 
Liberia a day after they have acquired pro- 
perty enough to carry them there. Slavery 
has disgraced the whole of them. 

Caroline. Yes, and it has cast a shade 
over this whole country — the guilt belongs to 
us, not to them, and the disgrace too; for 
ours is the only civilized country where it is 
allowed. 

Charles. Are there many people of color 
in Europe at the present time ? 

Caroline. No, not more than fifty thou- 
sand, scattered over the whole of it. 

Charles. And in this country, nearly three 
millions — besides two millions or more in the 
Floridas, Mexico, South America, and the 
West India Islands. 

Caroline. Yes ; but not all slaves, though 
a vast proportion of them are. 



224 CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 

Clara. Aunt Caroline, why will you not 
give us the account of the Sierra Leone col- 
ony, this evening ? 

Caroline. 1 may as well this evening as 
ever. I am glad you have not forgotten the 
promise I made you. Do you recollect what 
I told you al>out the trial of the slave Somersetj 
in England f 

Children. We do ; Mr. Granville Sharp 
befriended hitn. 

Caroline. He did ; and after the case 
was decided in favor of slaves, the public 
looked upon Mr. Sharp as the most promi- 
nent advocate of their cause in the kingdom. 

He was a friend indeed to the poor slaves. 
In a short time as many as four hundred 
blacks, some of whom had been slaves in the 
United States, and who, at the close of the 
revolutionary war, had been carried by the 
British to London, and others from the West 
India Islands, unable to obtain constant em- 
ployment in London, flocked to Mr. Sharp 
ibr protection and su|)port. His means were 
not sufficient to satisfy the demands of so 
many needy claimants, and he conceived the 
design of colonizing them. 

He knew there were a large number of the 
same class of colored people in Nova Scotia, 
who had followed the British arms, and had 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 225 

gone there at the end of the American war 
to settle on lands which had heen promised 
them by the British government. About the 
same time, Dr. Smeathman, who had resided 
several years in Africa, happened to be at 
London, and offered to take charge of those 
colonists who were willing to go to Sierra Leone, 
on the western coast of Africa. Mr. Gran- 
ville Sharp received some aid from govern- 
ment, the public being anxious to remove 
so worthless a class of inhabitants from the 
country. Just as the emigrants were ready 
to sail, Dr. Smeathman died, and they were 
placed under the comm-and of captain, af- 
terwards admiral Thomson. He received 
twelve pounds for each emigrant, and charg- 
ed himself Ivith the whole expense of the ex- 
pedition. 

Janette. How many emigrants went with 
him ? 

Caroline, Sixty Europeans, and four 
hundred African people. The ship sailed on 
the eighth of April, 1787. It was so much 
crowded, that sickness in the most alarming 
forms appeared among the crew. The pre- 
vious intemperate and vicious habits of both 
blacks and ivhites, increased the malignity of 
the fever, and hastened a fatal termination in 
the cases of a large number on the passaee. 
19* 



226 CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 

At the end of the rains, the first season, not 
more than a hundred and forty or fifty 
remained in a body. This small number was 
still farther reduced by desertion, discontent, 
and famine, till only forty were left. 

Mr. Sharp heard of the fate of the first 
colonists, and with a little aid from govern- 
ment, and the assistance of a iew private 
friends, he fitted out a brig with abundant 
supplies, and nearly forty new colonists of a 
better character ; he paid out of his own 
purse almost three thousand dollars in fitting 
out this ship. 

Janette. Was this expedition more fortu- 
nate ? 

Caroline. A little : however, thirteen of 
these died soon after they landed in August, 
1788. The news of the arrival of more 
emigrants filled the hearts of those who were 
there with great gladness, and soon brought 
back to the settlement many who had deserted, 
and taken up their abode with the natives, in 
the interior. 

When the brig left the colony it numbered 
one hundred and thirty. 

The next year a neighboring chief having 
been ill treated by a white slave factor, took 
vengeance on the settlement, by plundering 
and burning a great part of all the' dwellings. 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 227 

About those days the Sierra Leone Com- 
pany was formed in London, for the purpose 
of carrying forward the benevolent designs of 
Mr. Sharp, which, after encountering great 
difficuhies, received the sanction of parlia- 
ment, and was incorporated in 179 L In 
about a year afterwards, this company pro- 
posed to have Mr. Clarkson, a brother of the 
celebrated writer of the history of the Aboli- 
tion of the Slave Trade, go to Nova Scotia 
to invite those refugee negroes who had fol- 
lowed the British at the close of the revolu- 
tion, to remove to Sierra Leone as colonists ; 
and if willing, he was requested to conduct 
them to the shores of Africa. He immedi- 
ately went to Nova Scotia, and found all but 
three or four anxious to change their situation, 
and cordially willing to accompany him. 

Mr. Clarkson engaged sixteen vessels, 
which took on board more than eleven hun- 
dred blacks, and two hundred whites. This 
expedition sailed for the far distant colony in 
March, 1792. 

The Sierra Leone Company supported the 
colony till it was taken under the patronage 
of the British government, in 1808. Since 
then, from ten to fifteen thousand Africans 
have been recaptured from the horrors of 
slave ships, settled in the colony, fed and 



228 CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 

clothed by government till they were capable 
of sup)Dorting themselves. Regents-town 
began to be built by them in 1813, and the 
Rev. Mr. Johnson was appointed to take 
charge of this town in June, 1816. When 
he went to examine the condition of his people, 
he felt the deepest discouragernent. 

Many of them had been just liberated 
from the holds of slave-ships, and their ap- 
pearance was most wretched and ghastly. 
Tiiey were worn to skeletons, and someUmes 
six or eight died in a day. 

Janette. What kind of houses had they ? 
Caroline. Mere huts, in which from ten 
to twenty of the miserable creatures would 
crowd, of all ages and both sexes ; without 
seeming to have any idea of the meaning of 
purity. 

Scarcely the faintest desire for improve- 
ment, was visible among those who had been 
there the longest ; and for a long time they 
did not cultivate more than five or six acres 
of land. Devils^ houses were erected by 
them, and all seemed to place their security 
in the greegrees they wore. 

Mr. Johnson tried to make them wearsome 
kind of clothing, but every article he gave 
them, they either sold, or threw away ; until 
they saw a young girl who belonged to them, 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 229 

and who went to live with Mr. Johnson, dress- 
ed properly ; after that some of them were 
induced to wear clothes. They were violently 
prejudiced against each other, and improved 
every opportunity to express the hostile feel- 
ings they cherished. 1 presume they would 
have agreed better, if they could have under- 
stood ench other; but they belonged to more 
than twenty different nations, and the only 
common medium of intercourse was a little 
broken English. 

Janette. What did Mr. Johnson make of 
such a wretched, brutal people ? 

Caroline. With the blessing of God, ho 
made them Christians. He instructed them 
in letters and a knowledge of the gospel, 
knowing that if they became pious, they 
would be civilized. Government aided a 
little in the improvements which were com- 
menced by Mr. Johnson, who engaged in his 
labors with true missionary zeal. In less than 
two years a beautiful stone church was erected, 
a parsonage-house finished very neatly, and a 
large number of houses built of stone by the 
jjegroes, with the help of a few soldiers, and 
one European artificer. 

Charles. Built by those miserable beings 
Mr. Johnson found there ? 

Caroline, Yes ; for their own use. At the 



230 CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS, 

end of three years, a government-house was 
completed, school-houses, a bridge of several 
arches, and a hospital. 

Charles. Had he persuaded tliem to cul- 
tivate the land too ? 

Caroline. Yes ; they all became farmers, 
and were very industrious. Afier completing 
their houses, they paid great attention to their 
gardens and rice fields — every man fenced in 
a garden adjoining his house, which produced 
abundance of all kinds of vegetables. Besides 
taking care of their land, they learned trades 
so well, that they made clothes, did mason 
work, sawed boards and made shingles, and 
in these and other ways six or seven hundred 
of them maintained themselves very respec- 
tably. 

Janette. Did they wear decent clothes ? 

Caroline. Yes ; and the females learned to 
make them. 

Mr. Johnson had but nine hearers the first 
Sabbath he preached ; but after laboring three 
years, he had twelve or thirteen hundred 
negroes to hear him preach three times every 
Sabbath. Marriage had been instituted, and 
he had married four hundred couple in the 
time. They had abandoned their heathenish 
customs of night dancing, drumming, and 
other parts of demon worship. And what 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 231 

seemed to me very remarkable was, that 
during the third year, there Iiad not been seen 
a drunken person in Regents-town. 

Charles. I am sure it is a good thing to 
send the black people to Africa, for they will 
not behave so well here. How many natives 
have they taken from slave ships ? 

Caroline. In 1820, it was supposed that 
eleven tliousand had been liberated, and settled 
at Sierra Leone. A considerable number of 
the natives came down to the colony, and 
obtained leave to settle with their recaptured 
brethren. 

Janette. Did the other settlements pros- 
per as well as Regents-town, and did that 
continue to flourish f 

Caroline. I believe they did ; as for 
Regents-town, Capt. Turner said in 1822, that 
it appeared as well as most English villages, 
that " its inhabitants were civilized, industri- 
ous, honest, and neatly clothed." Every 
Sabbath, hundreds were to be seen hastening 
to the house of God, hungering for the bread 
of life. 

An English sea captain was expressing his 
astonishment at what he saw, and asked the 
governor what methods had been pursued 
to bring about such changes. " No other," 
said the governor, "than the truths of 



k 



232 CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 

Christianity ; hy this alone they have been 
ruled, and raised to a common level v»'ith 
other civilized nations." A gentleman who 
had visited it, and spent one Sabbath at 
Regents-town, said that when the bell struck 
for the hour of regular w^orship, it seemed as 
if the whole town was moved by a magic 
touch ; for in a minute, twelve or fourteen 
hundred people, all clean and neat, with a 
Bible under their arm, were moving to St. 
Charles's church — and not far behind them, 
about a dozen young men wit!) their Bibles, from 
the classical school, who had been selected for 
their piety and superior attainments, and were 
preparing for missionaries to the different 
tribes or nations from which they had been 
carried into bondage. 

Janette. How are so many slaves recap- 
tured ? 

Caroline. By British armed vessels, who 
are sent out by the king of England, to cruise 
for slavers. 

Charles. How many villages are there 
belonging to the colony ? 

Caroline. Five, besides the Kissey towns. 
The largest is Freetown — the others are 
named Regents-town, Gloucester, Wilber- 
force, and Leicester, which stands on an 
eminence called Leicester mountain. A large 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 233 

school has been established there, called the 
Christian Institute, which accomrnodatesmore 
than two hundred children, who have been 
named and supported by benefactors in 
England. 

There are boys and girls who have been 
rescued from slavery, fed and clothed by the 
hand of benevolence, as well as carefully 
instructed in the Christian religion, and the 
useful arts of life. 

A great admiral, on visiting the schools at 
Sierra Leone, exclaimed, " Behold what 
religion cfln do !" 

Leicester has two religious teachers — 
Freetown five, and all the other villages one; 
some of them are white, the rest colored men, 
but all of them persons of distinguished 
piety. 

Janette. How large is the colony now, 
and how much territory do they possess ? 

Caroline, 1 believe their present popula- 
tion is about twenty thousand, and their first 
purchase about twenty miles ; but they have 
been enlarging their territory, and the last 
1 heard, the colony was in a very flourishing 
state. Trade with the interior had become 
quite extensive, so tliat in one year the natives 
had carried down to the colony gold to the 
amount of fourteen thousand pounds. 
20 



234 CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 

Janette. Where do they obtain their gold ? 

Caroline. Sometimes they find it in small 
solid bodies, but generally they obtain it by 
washing the sand they gather from the beds 
of rivers ; the gold is washed down from the 
mountains by the heavy rains. 

Janette. Have they no white people except 
the governor and missionaries ? 

Caroline. Yes ; they have a few mechanics, 
and school-masters, besides all the civil and 
military officers. They have some chaplains, 
I think, in addition to the missionaries. 

Clara. Have missionaries been;sent from 
the United States to Liberia ? 

Caroline. Yes ; the Baptist Board sent out 
two, and the American Board of Foreign 
Missions one, but they all died ; and I believe 
all the Swiss missionaries are dead, except 
Mr. Sessing and two others. 

Janette. How manv Swiss missionaries 



went out 



Caroline. Eight went to Liberia. Mr._ 
Sessing, wife, and three single brethren from 
the Missionary Seminary at Basle, in Switzer- 
land, went to Africa, in 1828. Mr. Sessing 
and Mr. Hegele settled in Grand Bassa, eighty 
miles down the coast south of Monrovia. Mr. 
Hegele was struck with the sun, became deliri- 
ous, and went to Europe. 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 235 

The natives of Grand Bassa, at first, were 
jealous and distrustful, believing the missionary 
to be a slave dealer, like all other white men 
whom they had known before their acquaint- 
ance with the Liberia colonists. But after 
they were made to understand the benevolent 
design of Mr. Sessing, they were confiding as 
little children, and said, " White man likes 
black people, white man come teach them 
the book, white man cannot die." Carrying 
their children to Mr. Sessing, they would say, 
"Teach them white man's fashion." He found 
Joseph Harris, the king, a good natured old 
man, who constantly urged him to settle with 
him, and took him to the St. John's river and 
said, " Here, white man, is a place for you to 
sit down ; my people must come and build you 
a house, and make you a farm. You make 
a school here, and I will send my boys, 
and my girls ; they will, and must learn 
book." 

Janette. What became of the rest .^ 

Caroline. Mr. Wolfe died in January, 
1827. Rev. Rudolph Dietschy, and Rev. 
John Burlier died also; the former March 22, 
1830, and the latter the 26th of the same 
month. 

Rev. Mr. Graner was very sick at the time 
of Mr. Burher's death. Mr. Sessing, Mr. 



236 CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 

Herhe, and Mr. Kessling are still alive, or 
were the last I heanl. Some of them reside 
at Monrovia, in a liouse given them by Mr. 
Ashmnn. They ofien preach in the Methodist 
chapel, and one of them went up to Cape 
Mount, to instruct the mission school estab- 
lished by the Rev. Lott Carey. 

Janette. I remember reading about that 
school in the Baptist African Mission book. 

Caroline. I cannot spend any more time 
with you this evening. But 1 will tell you 
more about Africa, and the importance ^of the 
Colonization Society, some other time. 



On what conditions do the colonists receive their land ? How- 
many natives have put themselves under the protection of the 
colony? What clo you remeinher about the climaie of Libe- 
ria? How many slaves are in Europe? How many in the 
United States? Relate what you recollect about the colony 
at Sierra Leone? How many Svviss missionaries went to 
Liberia ? How many are still living there ? 



CHAPTER XI. 

Let not our sorrows vainly flow, 
Nor let the strong emotion rise in vain ; 
But may the kind contagion widely spread. 
Till in its flame the unrelenting heart 
Of avarice melt in softest sympathy — 
And one bright blaze of universal love. 
In grateful incense, rises up to Heaven ! 

On the evening of Independence, while the 
family were sitting round the tea-table, Mr. 
Granville turned to Charles, and asked him 
what he could remember of Mr. Mason's 
address in favor of the Colonization Society ? 

Charles set down his cup and saucer, and 
looked very thoughtful a moment, and then 
said, " Pa', must I tell in Mr. Mason's own 
words ? " 

Mr, G. No, my son; you may tell in your 
own. 

Charles. He said the Colonization Society 
was daily gaining friends — that the first and 
best men in the United States were among 
its firmest supporters — that all denominations 
of Christians and ministers were opposed to 
die slave trade, and that scarcely a child 
20* 



238 CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 

could be found, that understood the claims of 
Africa, but wished to do something to make 
slaves happier till they could all go home to 
Africa — that, ah-eady, more than a hundred 
and fifty Auxiliary Societies had been formed, 
and reported, besides fifteen State Societies, 
He hoped the African Education Society, 
established at the city of Washington, in 
December, 1829, would be patronized by 
the friends of the cause, especially by the 
ladies ; and then he praised the Richmond 
and Baltimore ladies, and the ladies in a 
great many other towns and cities, and hoped 
the time was at hand, when the Boston ladies 
would take a conspicuous part in this good 
work. 

Mr. G. You have brought home more 
than I expected, Charles, and have not mis- 
represented. Janette, can you relate as 
much ? 

Janette. Yes, sir. May I tell in my own 
words, Pa' ? 

Mr. G. Yes. 

Janette. He said Sabbath scholars could 
do ten limes more for the poor African 
children in this country, and Liberia too, 
than they ever had done — and that "young 
men and maidens, old men and children," 
should pray that God would raise up colored 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 239 

ministers and schoolmasters to go to Liberia, 
and the adjacent country, and give money 
cheerfully to carry out colonists and missiona- 
ries ; for there were, at least, one hundred 
millions of people now "sitting in the region 
and shadow of death," on the continent of 
Africa, and the neighboring islands. 

Mr. G. You hav^e used more of Mr. 
Mason's expressions than Charles. Come, 
Clara, what can you relate of the re- 
marks? 

Clara. He said that a gentleman in Phila- 
delphia had remarked, in public, that be 
should as soon think of draining Lake Erie 
with a ladle, as removing all the colored 
people from the United States to Africa ; but 
the same gentleman now thinks differently, 
and gives large sums every year to promote 
their removal, because he believes the free 
people of color are happier in Africa, than 
they can be any where else. He then read 
part of Mr. Shipherd's letter, and a little from 
Mr. McGill's letter. I cannot repeat the let- 
ters, but I saw aunt Caroline write it off in 
short hand. 

Mrs. G. Sister Caroline, do read them. 

Caroline. Mr. Shipherd writes, "The most 
sanguine of my expectations of happiness in 
this colony, have been surpassed in point of 



240 CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 

acquiring wealth, ease, respectability, and the 
pleasures attendant on civil and religious lib- 
erty." And Mr. McGill expresses himself 
still stronger. He says, " If the very best 
square in the city of Baltimore were offered 
me, it would not induce me, in the present 
state of things, to remain in the United States. 
I am satisfied that Africa is the place for me, 
and mine, and all of my color." 

Clara. 1 do not remember who these men 
were, Pa'. 

Mr. G. Mr. McGill was a Methodist min- 
ister, who was pastor of a church in Balti- 
more, before he went to Liberia ; and Mr. 
Shipherd was a pious schoolmaster and sur- 
veyor. 

Mrs. G. Do you not believe all the free 
people of color would be of the same mind, 
were they equally enlightened and intelligent? 
Mr. G. I have not a doubt but they would. 
Now, Caroline, let us hear what you have 
remembered. 

Caroline. I took down the address in short 
hand, for I wished to carry it home with me. 
If you please, 1 will read what Mr. Mason 
said about a remedy for the slave trade. Mr. 
and Mrs. Granville requested her to read, and 
she began. *' There is but one speedy way 
of breaking up the sla- •? trade, and that is, to 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 241 

have ten or twelve light, fast sailing schoon- 
ers to cruize on llie coast, at tliose places 
from wliicl) the slavers can take off slaves. 
Tliese vessels should relieve each other, and 
continue on the coast during the whole year. 
They should have one or two sloops of war, 
with the forces of which would be strong 
enough to land and break up the slave facto- 
ries. If this system was pursued by either or 
all of the nations who undertake to break up 
the slave trade, for two years, I question 
whether, at the end of that time, there would 
be a slave vessel found on the coast of 
Africa.' 

Mr. G. In that way, thousands of slaves 
would be captured, and brought to the colony, 
or sent back to their native tribes. In 1828, 
an English ship of war captured nearly twelve 
hundred, who were on their way to a slave 
market. 

Janette. Ma' has not told what she remem- 
bers yet. Pa'. 

Mr. G. Come, my dear, I should like to 
know what part you most approved. 

Mrs. G. The wliole address met my views, 
and answered my expectation ; but 1 must say 
the description of the state in which the free 
people of color were, in Ohio and Canada, 



24-3 CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 

moved my feelings as much or more than any 
other facts lie mentioned. 

Jayictte. Ma', do repeat the facts. 

M.rs, G. The Canada company encour- 
aged the colored people in Ohio to remove 
into Canada, and pronjised them a milHon of 
acres of land if they wanted it. They actually 
purchased thousands of acres and removed 
upon .it, and began to cultivate garc^ns, and 
farms with much spirit. When the House of 
Assembly saw how rapidly they increased, 
they were alarmed, and passed resolutions to 
check, if not to prohibit any further settle- 
ment. Oliio resolved to get clear of them, 
and has recently warned all of them to depart 
out of her borders, under a penalty of five 
hundred dollars for every one who outstays 
thirty days. 

Charles. Pa', what can they do ^ where 
can they go ? 

M\ G. They must go to Africa, there only 
will the whole African race find rest. New 
England must furnish a great part of the mo- 
ney to defray the expense of their transporta- 
tion. I do not believe there is a man of 
principle, sensibility, or Christian benevolence 
among us, who will not cheerfully bear his 
part in the colonizing enterprize, when he 
fully understands what has been accomplish- 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 243 

ed, and what is now in contemplation by the 
Board of Managers. My views, and feelings, 
have undergone a great change since I began 
to examine its proceedings, for the sake of 
my children and scholars in the Sabbath 
school, and doubtless a knowledge of facts 
will produce a similar change in the minds of 
others. 

Mr. Granville had made an engagement, 
which he went to fulfil, soon after prayers. 

Janette. Mother, I hope you and aunt 
Caroline will tell more about Africa. 

Caroline. You may go and bring the map 
of Africa, and I will point out some of the 
districts on the w^estern coast from the Timma- 
ny country to Cape Palmas. You may open 
the map of Liberia. At the top, or north 
part of it you see the Tim many country ; 
from east to west it extends about ninety 
miles, and from north to soutli forty-five. A 
traveller passing through this country a few 
years ago, was introduced to Ba-Kobala, the 
king, who, on that occasion, was dressed in a 
long white shirt, and over it a scarlet mantle 
drawn over one shoulder, and confined below 
o the other. 

The Mandingo country lies east of Grand 
Cape ?Jount. They are all Mohammedans, 
and wear blue or red cloth caps, embroidered 



244 CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 

with silk. The men wear a short robe, made 
in the most simple manner, consisting of only- 
one piece of cloth, with a hole cut in the mid- 
dle of it large enough to admit the head, and 
a pair of trowsers so large, if a person of rank, 
that twenty yards of cloth are put into one 
pair. The words Kroote Aboo-mato, means 
either great man or trowsers. The Mandin- 
goes have only four professions — the orator, 
minstrel, shoemaker, and blacksmith. The 
men wear a knife or cutlass hanging from 
their girdles. The dress of the women are 
like the men, only they do not wear trowsers, 
but a simple fold of cloth around the waist. 
They are every where respected, partly on 
account of their manufacturing the charms^ 
and fetiches (gods) of the country, to a very 
great distance. The Mandingoes have made 
greater progress in civilization than any of 
their neighbors, who often distinguish them 
by the name of the god-people, or idol-ma- 
kers. For shrewdness and cunning, they ex- 
ceed any other tribe, and always make sure 
of the best part of the bargain. 

The Dey, or Fey country, is near the Ga- 
Unas (a famous slave market), and extends 
north and south fifty miles, and about thirty- 
miles inland. The Fey people are active*, 
warlike, proud and deceitful. They numbei' 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 245 

twelve or fifteen thousand souls, three-fourths 
of whom are domestic slaves ; the rest slave 
traders. The Deys occupy the coast from 
Cape Mount to Messurado, about fifty miles 
in extent from north to south, and only twelve 
or fifteen miles inland. They are an indolent, 
but treacherous and profligate people. South 
of Messurado, there is the great and little 
Bassas, Rock Sesters, Young Sesters, Settra 
Kroo, and one or two other small places 
before you arrive at Cape Palmas. These 
countries extend about twenty miles inland, 
and contain about one hundred and fifty thou- 
sand inhabitants. 

The farther south you go, the languages of 
the natives become more and more unmusi- 
cal. In tlie vicinity of Cape Palmas the lan- 
guage of the natives sounds like the cry of a 
duck, while the more northern resembles the 
Italian. However, there is an astonishing 
variety ; within sixty miles you find eight or 
ten different languages. The Foulah country 
is about the size of the State of Massachu- 
setts ; Teembo is the capital. 

Janette, I wish 1 knew more about Africa. 

Caroline. If you will read the travels of 
Park, Clapperton, Denham, Laing, the Lan- 
ders and some others, you will learn a great 
deal about the former, and present state of 
21 



246 CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 

Africa. I could tell you stories from books 
written by those travellers a whole night that 
would be very entertaining. 

Clara. I hope you will, aunt Caroline. 

Caroline. You may find the States of Bar- 
bary on the map of Africa. 
"Cliildren. Here they are. 

Caroline. There, all that space between 
the Barbary States and Central Africa, is 
occupied by Arabs, who live in moveable vil- 
lages, composed of little circular huts, or tents. 
They are all subject to the Moorish princes, 
and profess the Mussulman faith. 

The present inhabitants of Egypt are a 
strange mixture of Persian, Grecian, Roman, 
and Arabian races. 

Charles. Are the Africans real idolaters ^ 

Carolirie. Yes, those who do not profess 
the Mohammedan faith ; indeed many of those 
carry about their charms, and fetiches, and 
exhibit as much superstition as the heathen. 

Janette. Will you please to explain more 
to my comprehension, what the charms and 
fetiches are ? 

Caroline. The greegrees, or charms, are 
made of silk or leather, in various forms, but 
all enclose a bit of paper with an Arabic word 
written upon it. God, is the word commonly 
written. They suppose these greegrees preserve 



CLAIMS dP THE AFRICANS. 247 

their health, and lives, and do much to pro- 
mote their happiness, and success in life. 
The fetich^ or idol, is sometimes one thing, 
and sometimes another. Whatever a native 
imagines to possess supernatural power, be- 
comes iiis idol, whether it be a mountain, tree, 
river, serpent, a scrap of paper, a blade of 
grass, or even the shadow of a man ; he wor- 
ships it, consults it, and prays to it for deliv- 
erance and protection. Sometimes they wear 
fifty or a hundred different charms and feti- 
ches at once. If he fails of obtaining his wishes 
he will change his fetich, and buy another, 
for they have almost an endless variety of 
them, which can be bought and sold at plea- 
sure. Many of the" nations in Central Africa 
offer human victims in sacrifice. In Ashantee, 
as many as four thousand have been sacri- 
ficed at the death of one great man. The king 
of Coomasie, the capital of Ashantee, sacri- 
ficed three thousand human beings upon the 
grave of his mother, under the absurd delu- 
sion, that in another world the honor and hap- 
piness of men are proportioned to the num- 
ber who accompany them to the abodes of the 
dead. 

Chah, Where is the kingdom of Ashantee ^ 

Caroline. In the interior of Africa, many 

days' journey from the coast. It is very pop- 



248 CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 

ulous. Indeed, the population of Africa has 
been very much underrated. In Major Laing's 
journey from Sierra Leone to Sackatoo, the 
capital of the Felattah country, he passed 
through towns containing from twenty to fifty 
or sixty thousand inhabitants. Immense quan- 
tities of ivory and gold are found in Central 
Africa, and considerable quantities are brought 
down to the coast. 

Janette. Aunt Caroline, we have not got 
the books of travels that you mentioned, and 
I do not think twenty of the scholars in our 
Sabbath school know any more about Africa 
than I do. Will you not help us form a little 
Society, to work for the schools at Liberia, 
and meet with us ; and while we work you 
tell us stories about Africa. 

Mrs. G. I think it would be an excellent 
plan, sister ; — you have nothing to prevent 
your devoting half a day each week to such 
an object, and I know of no way in which 
you might do more good than by interesting 
children in the cause of Africa. The discov- 
eries recently made in that interesting coun- 
try, are of .a nature to attract the attention of 
the young. And it is not improbable that 
parents might be led to reflect upon the im- 
portance of increasing efforts in behalf of the 
Colonization Society, and missions to Africa, 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 249 

if they saw their children awake to the sub- 
ject, and anxious to do good to the poor 
children of that too long oppressed and des- 
pised people. 

Caroline. I am persuaded that your chil- 
dren will feel a stronger desire to become ac- 
quainted with the natural history, habits and 
manners of the people of Africa than they 
would have done, if they had not been in- 
structed by the repeated conversations we 
have held with them of late. I fully approve 
of the plan you have proposed, and will assist 
you in carrying it into effect, while I remain 
here. 

Clara. Aunt Caroline, have you told us 
all that you design to tell about Liberia ^ 

Caroline. I have very little more to re- 
late. The colony is in great prosperity at 
the present time ; commerce is extending — 
the interests of agriculture daily improving^ 
religious, moral and literary institutions ad- 
vancing : and the whole colony exhibits less 
drunkenness, profaneness, and Sabbath-break- 
ing, than many portions of the United States. 
Pleasing accounts have been received quite 
recently, dated in Sept. 1831. The Rev. M. 
C. Waring writes, that within the past year, 
sixty converts have been received into one 
church, half of whom were recaptured Afri- 



250 CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 

cans. I was looking over one of Mr. Riiss- 
worm's Liberia newspapers the other day, 
and wished all the colored people in America 
could read the following editorial remarks : — » 
"Before God, we know of no other home for 
the man of color, of republican principles, 
than Africa. Has he no ambition ? Is he 
dead to every thing noble ? Is he contented 
with his condition ? Let him remain in Ame- 
rica. Let him who might here be an honor to 
society, remain a sojourner in a land where it 
is impossible to be otherwise. His spirit is 
extinct, and his friends may as well bury him 

Mrs. G. The colored people cannot re- 
main insensible much longer, 1 am sure they 
cannot, to the advantages offered them at Li- 
beria. 

Caroline. And I feel assured that females 
in the United States cannot withhold their 
prayers and charities for Africa, after they are 
acquainted with her woes and wretchedness. 

The appeal of Mrs , of Hartford, has 

thrilled through many hearts, and with an ex- 
tract from it I will close the history of the 
Colonization Society. 

" Liberia is reclaimed from savage sway, 
and her soil made ready for the seeds of know- 
ledge and piety. From her, light and peace 



CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS. 251 

are to pervade a pagan continent, to *hush the 
sighing of the prisoner, and save the souls ap- 
pointed unto death.' Those whose names will 
hereafter rank among the founders of nations, 
have been her pioneers and her benefactors. 
Some of these, have stamped their devotion 
to her cause, with the seal of martyrdom. 

''Mothers! are your children spared from 
the grave, to blossom in beauty, and cheer 
your hearts with the promise of intelligence 
and wisdom ^ On the anniversary of their 
birth, bring as your thank-offering, a gift for 
Africa, that bereaved mother, so long bowed 
down by a double mourning — -for the dead, 
and for the living. 

" On the natal day of your country's free- 
dom, while you recount to your sons the 
blessings of liberty, incite them to an alms 
for her who hath worn in solitude and in bit- 
terness, the fetters of all nations. Prompt 
your daughters, your servants, every female 
within the circle of your influence, to work 
one evening in each week, and dedicate this 
produce of their skill, their industry, or their 
genius to the schools of Liberia. Read to 
the loved group, nightly assembled around 
your fire-side, of the sorrows and the hopes 
of Africa — and let your comment be the tear 
of sympathy — the prayer of faith. At the 



252 CLAIMS OF THE AFRICANS.' ^ ^^^ '^^' 

hour of repose, and the rising up of morn, 
when your infants bend the knee to their 
Father in Heaven, pour on their guileless lips 
the petition — ' Teach us to do good to Africa, 
teach Africa to forgive."^ Neither deem such 
efforts ho[)eless, because they are humble ; 
for thus to a clime deeply desolate — yet once - 
illustrious, shall fi'ise a fame which Carthage 
never knew, when the majesty of Rome trem- 
bled at her martial step upon the Alpine bat- 
tlements ; — a glory that Egypt never attained, 
though she lifted alone the torch of science 
over a darkened globe, and saw philosophy 
travel an awe-struck pilgrim to her temple. 
And when you go down to the vale of death, 
charge your offspring to persevere in these 
your labors of love, until in every hamlet of 
regenerated Africa, the school-house and the 
church-spire shall be seen in hallowed broth- 
erhood, and the voice of the instructed child, 
and the hymn of the joyful saint, ascend in 
mingled melody to the throne of God." 

I are the firmest supporters of the Colonization Society ? 

ire opposed to slavery ? How many Colonization So- 

have been formed by the Stales ? How many auxiliaries 

Parent Society ? How much may Sabbath scholars do 

his object ? What does Mr. Shipherd say ? What Mr. 

'• 1 Can you name any remedy for the Slave trade? 

• ;■ measures have been taken by the Slate of Ohio to free 

■: ' from colored inhabitants? Where can they go to 

: -. tnfort and happiness ? 



